The agricultural sector suffered the most sweeping changes in terms of state intervention during the inter-war period. The dramatic increase in the numbers of agrarian families (average annual increase of population in the inter-war period 1.93%) and the constant parcelling out of the land aggravated the already low yield of farming lots. The redistribution of farming income to the benefit of the farmers resulted from a series of reforms adopted by inter-war governments. The results were particularly positive not only in terms of an increase in production but also in terms of the overall mobilization of local resources with industrialization as the ultimate objective.

The influx of refugees precipitated a programme of expropriation and redistribution of large farming lots, a process announced by Venizelos in the 1910s. The reasoning behind this immediate change was as much a matter of social justice as it was part of the plan for economic recovery (expansion of the domestic market) and the prevention of domestic social disturbances. By 1938, 1,724 large farms of 12 million stremmas had been expropriated in their entirety and distributed to 130,000 families of native farmers. A further 83,000 square kilometers of arable land were conceded to the refugees, in particular those in northern Greece. All this goes to prove that the significant urban development of Greece in the 1923-40 period was combined with changes in the field of agriculture, since the ensuing exploitation of land by the whole family resulted in a more active participation of farmers in trade and the money economy.