Organic Districts in Italy: the case of Veneto and the World Café approach to improve model’s efficiency

The increasing demand for organic products observed over the last years led many Italian farmers to convert to organic farming. However, this process is slowed down by a lack of knowledge and/or of suitable instruments to address changes implied by organic farming practices. In addition, national and regional support provided within the Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems (AKIS) is not sufficient to meet farmers’ needs. The model of the Italian organic district (biodistretto) is therefore examined as a possible solution to fill this gap, optimizing tools and extension services based on the specific needs of the different Italian agricultural areas.