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The district concept has born with the need to overcome the conditions of insufficient competitiveness increasing production advantages and integrating the different phases of the production cycle in a geographical space. On the other hand, the fundamental principle of the network is the organized relationship between firms. The two models share the basis organization form (a net between different actors) but, unlike districts and consortia, the network exceeds the logic of territoriality district and hierarchical organization by introducing a new method of asset management. While the district will continue to be the territorial unit of reference, the network contract will have to join it in order to integrate the functionality., Italian Review of Agricultural Economics, Vol 69 No 2-3 (2014)

he world is changing quickly and dramatically, bringing a range of challenges to European agriculture, including climate change, impact on the environment, pressures on natural resources, increasing competition and demographic changes. Therefore, Agricultural research(AR) is being asked to address issues that are both multi- and interdisciplinary: convergence of knowledge from different disciplines is important to achieve a better understanding of these complex and interlinked problems. The aim of this paper is to analyse the framework of European Agricultural Research activities (mechanisms, policies, strategies) and to reflect on how to further implement the Lisbon key concept of making EU the most dynamic and competitive knowledge based economy in the world. In this knowledge based economy, research and scientific innovation will be the drivers for human wellness and health and, therefore, research within agribusiness sector and nutrition will have an increasing role in this strategy. The remarks in the first section of the paper are the starting point for the analysis in the following sections and intend to summarize the present literature at European Community level. The statements expressed are compared with the current framework of agricultural research and supported by the investigation on the evolutionary process. On the basis of these premises, the present paper could be considered as a first contribution to the debate that could be developed at national and local level on themes related to the objectives of improving the European Agricultural Research System.

In Italy, as in other countries, Organic Food and Farming (OFF) research suffers from a very high fragmentation as it is carried out by many public research institutes, universities and private centres. In recent years, due to the increasing relevance of OFF within national rural development programmes, strong efforts have been addressed towards an improvement of the efficiency of the distribution of funds, the research system and the reorganization of its activities, and a reduction of overlapping initiatives. This paper presents projects and institutions currently working on OFF research in Italy, focusing on the available public financial instruments and the main projects funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry MIPAF. Most of the Italian research projects investigate plant production subjects, some actions involve animal production, animal health and welfare and environmental aspects. In order to facilitate the dissemination of research, the “National Information System on organic farming” (www.sinab.it) was established. It is financed by MIPAF. Furthermore, recognizing the need to coordinate research efforts also at transnational level, MIPAF is one of the 11 partners of the CORE-Organic ERA-net project, which started in October 2004, co-financed by the European Commission. This network could represent a very powerful tool to strengthen future national and international research actions and cooperation.