A declared target of the European Union is to produce 20% of energy requirements from renewable resources by the year 2020; however Greece is unlikely to achieve this goal. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has identified the potential amongst the farming industry to help meet this objective but there is little published research on how organisations and different stakeholders can successfully interact with farmers to achieve structural change. This paper aims to address the social, economic and political context/framework; that is the limits and the determinants of the acceptance or rejection of the production and use of bio-energy crops by producers and by various other stakeholders. The underlying hypothesis is that acceptance or rejection of the production and use of bio-energy crops is associated in addition to economic and financial considerations, with socio-ethical and environmental factors and the overall value system of producers and other stakeholders etc. The current research is a combination of desktop and field research. It includes primary data collection (economic, socio-demographic and attitudinal), analysis of secondary economic data and extensive literature reviews. The qualitative method to be employed is focus group research conducted in an agricultural region in Central Greece with long agricultural tradition.
