ASSOCIAZIONE ITALIANA PER L'AGRICOLTURA BIOLOGICA

Their core work

AIAB is Italy's leading organic farming association, advocating for and advancing organic agriculture practices across the country. In EU research projects, they serve as the bridge between scientific research and organic farming practitioners — translating findings into practical knowledge that farmers can use. Their H2020 work centers on organic knowledge networks and animal welfare in low-input production systems, with a particular focus on pig and poultry farming under organic and extensive conditions.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

AIAB's H2020 trajectory shows a clear progression from broad organic knowledge sharing toward more specialized animal welfare research. Their early work (2015-2018) focused on organic arable farming knowledge networks, then shifted to organic animal feed (2018-2021), and most recently to a large-scale animal welfare project addressing pig and poultry production systems (2019-2024). The trend moves from general organic crop knowledge toward specific livestock welfare challenges, with increasing project budgets reflecting deeper involvement.

AIAB is moving toward animal welfare and low-input livestock production — expect them to seek partnerships in precision livestock farming, welfare assessment tools, and sustainable feed alternatives.

How they like to work

AIAB consistently participates as a partner, never as coordinator — they bring practitioner networks and farmer engagement rather than project management. With 55 unique partners across 18 countries in just 3 projects, they operate in large, multi-national consortia typical of Coordination & Support Actions (CSA) and multi-actor Research & Innovation Actions. Their value to consortia is their direct connection to Italy's organic farming community, making them an ideal dissemination and practice-oriented partner.

Despite only 3 projects, AIAB has built a wide network of 55 partners across 18 countries — a result of participating in large EU-wide knowledge networks and multi-actor consortia. Their reach spans most of Europe with no narrow geographic clustering.

What sets them apart

AIAB is not a research lab — it is Italy's main organic farming association with direct access to thousands of organic producers. This makes them uniquely valuable for any project that needs real-world farmer participation, field testing, or practice-oriented dissemination in the Italian organic sector. For consortium builders, AIAB fills the critical "practice partner" slot that EU multi-actor projects require.

Highlights from their portfolio

• PPILOW
  Largest project by funding (EUR 306,350) and scope — a 5-year multi-actor effort on pig and poultry welfare covering genetics, environment, and business models for low-input systems.
• OK-Net EcoFeed
  Directly connected organic farming practice with the challenge of sourcing 100% organic feed for monogastric animals — a pressing regulatory and practical issue in EU organic production.