On October 7, in the framework OrganicTargets4EU (OT4EU) project, the Italian National Workshops on the Organic Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) and on a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for organics were held at CIHEAM Bari campus.

The event gathered twelve participants, representatives from AIAB Friuli V. Giulia, Coldiretti Bio,  CREA PB, FederBIO servizi, Fileni BIO, FIRAB, ISMEA, Polytechnic University of Marche, and others.

The twelve participants discussed the current advisory system for the organic sector in Italy, what the future advisory system should look like, and how to get there. They also exchanged on organic research needs and priorities.

The results of these fruitful discussions were a list of priority actions for increasing the availability and capacity of the Italian organic advisory services and a list of research & innovation thematic priorities to enrich TP Organics SRIA research areas.

The following day, the group took part also to the Italian national backcasting workshop in which using the ‘backcasting’ methodology, attendees reflected on a national Italian scenario already pre-defined by experts that reaches the F2F target for organic farming (25% of agricultural land under organic farming) by 2040 and the different milestones and actions needed to reach it. They used the results of this discussion to create a detailed, multi-faceted hypothetical transition pathway to 2040, which was the main outcome of the workshop.

The OrganicTargets4EU project is funded by the Horizon Europe program and lasts for three years, until February 2026.