Purpose: This paper examines new coalitions for knowledge diffusion and innovations of young farmers. Understanding their patterns and the factors influencing their cooperative and innovating norms is crucial in improving these young farmers' positioning in the agricultural knowledge and information system. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on the stories of 110 young farmers in a rural area in northern Greece, using interviews and key-informants and employing Two Step Cluster and Categorical Regression Analysis, we investigated the natural grouping of young farmers according to common characteristics, as well as the most influential factors predicting their cooperative and innovative character. Findings: The majority of young farmers remain trapped in the old structures and are reluctant to adopt innovation, establish collective actions and receive training. The upcoming type of "dormant" young farmer exhibits hidden dynamics and at a given opportunity will follow the "innovators". The "innovators", while a minority, have created groups and turned from passive recipients to actual stimulators of the system, which has regenerated knowledge flows according to their needs. Farming was their dream; their priorities in investment are not aimed at heavy machinery; they are stimulated as a result of their good education, and by their spouses. And the more innovative they are the more tailored educational needs in management issues they have. Practical implications: The findings prompt consideration of the external and internal factors that influence the different types of young farmer, which can provoke action towards changing the "conventionals", waking-up the "dormants" and further supporting the "innovators". Originality/value: In the current debate for reactivation and recognition of the Agricultural Extension Services in Greece, this analytical framework of the heterogeneity of young farmers is of interest to those designing tailored action according to different needs and norms. (Contains 5 figures and 3 tables.)