The Holstein Association of Greece (HAGR) was established three years ago and is recognized according to the Greek law. HAGR is the first countrywide organization having as basic goal the genetic improvement of the Holstein cattle breed and the efficient management of dairy farms. The Association is based in Thessaloniki and expands its activities throughout Greece by the establishment of regional councils.

For its purpose the Association may be represented and cooperate with the public sector, as well as any other agencies of similar interest both domestic and international. The services provided by the Hellenic Holstein Association are compatible with the standards defined by the Greek Ministry of Agriculture and the European Union.
The registration rules of the Holstein Association of Greece (HAGR) provide for the free membership of dairy farmers. From its founding and operational day, the HAGR is actively trying to increase its member base and to lower the cost of recording. In this mission we view dairy farmers as our prospective customers within an environment that operates under free market guidelines. Therefore we apply marketing and communication principles in order to approach and register them as our members.

HAGR’s process of contracting farmers comes after the evaluation of data that are available to us through government agencies, and third party institutions, which carry their research through questionnaires. By evaluating the available data, we are interested to get a clear picture of the individual producers business profile and their true needs but also to develop a plan of what they should look for to run their farm on a profitable and sustainable basis.
In this mission we have developed a clear and concise pricing policy in order to be able to offer the consumer an easy way to purchase our services. Our professional associate personalizes the HAGR by communicating on a person-to-person basis with our current and prospective members. HAGR’s message is that we go beyond offering services of exceptional quality. In this context upon visiting prospective members, our associates go into great detail on explaining the services we provide but always maintaining our commitment to understanding the farmers’ needs.

Together with better marketing to the producers we are also actively involved into constantly improving our internal operation. Aiming to improve our services we have invested in better educating our workforce, provide them with better salaries and hire more staff according to our expanding needs. As we firmly believe that there is no better cost and time effective way to promote and expand a service than through our own associates, each one knows that all their behavior has an interaction direct or indirect connected with the success of HAGR.

The Holstein Association of Greece has as mission don’t simply to apply in a little better way, the recording practices which have been already introduced and failed in the previous periods, but to offer her services in a very different way. We locate teams of producers that present particular interest. Our mission is to apply innovative, carefully studied, excellently coordinated services, with good quality and low price, covering the needs and the wishes of the farmers. Because however we understand that we owe to know very well our customers, that is to say our members-dairy farmers, we attend to be as good as possible informed. At the same time we study carefully the structure of their enterprises in order to find what really they would wish to buy. Simultaneously we assemble as much as possible information on the competition and we re-define our services, without however following an aggressive competitive strategy.

The Holstein Association of Greece has been established not solely to attract the dairy farmers by offering superior quality services at an affordable cost for both the HAGR and its members. We value human relationship and we measure our success by this standard that is essential in animal recording. We do our best to include in our business plan every aspect of the dairy industry, from our relation with governmental officials and participation in working groups of international bodies down to the friendly personal relations with farmers. Today, the structure of the Greek dairy industry is rapidly changing. The Holstein Association of Greece is prepared to play a leading role in bringing its expertise in this process.

Contact:
Holstein Association of Greece
10th klm Thessaloniki – Lagada
Derveni – P.C. 57200, P.O. BOX 4
Lagadas Thessaloniki
tel.: +30 23940 – 20269 / 73286
fax: +30 23940 – 72859
e-mail: info@holstein.gr / holstein@otenet.gr