The Agricultural Research Council (CRA) is a National Research Organization which operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture, with general scientific competence within the fields of agriculture, agroindustry, food, fishery and forestry. The CRA has been established with the legislative decree n.454/99 and gathers together the experience of 28 Agricultural Research Institutes and their relative 54 peripheral operational units for a total of 82 offices throughout the nation. On March 22 2006, following the agreement of the Conference of Regions, the approval decree for the “Reorganization and Rationalization Plan”, previously deliberated by the Board of Directors of the CRA, has been released. During a time period of four years, the Reorganization Plan, intends to implement 15 Centers and 32 Research Units organized in 5 Departments.