Farmers' Involvement in Online Public Consultations and the Corresponding Configuration of the Democratic Divide

The institution of online public consultations was adopted in Greece in 2009 (www.opengov.gr.) Participation or non-participation of citizens in this institution constitutes part of the digital divide, referred to as democratic divide. This paper attempts to disclose components of the democratic gap in the Greek agricultural sector, with particular reference to farmers. This disclosure is attempted by two approaches. The first approach was to perform content analysis on 5078 comments that have been posted on 21 public consultations by the Greek Ministry of Rural Development, in order to identify the participation frequency of farmers. The second approach was part of wider research, and relates to the collection of primary data from 112 farmers of Heraklion, Crete, using a structured questionnaire. The objective of the second approach is to study the farmers' digital and socio-professional profiles and the correlation with their awareness about the institution of online public consultations. The results indicate the existence of a democratic divide, and identify proposals for its reduction.