In March 2006 a group of 20 Italian women farmers from Reggio Emilia in N Italy participated in a study tour to Fermanagh, N Ireland. The visit was arranged through Eurolink, an EU networking agency based in Co Tyrone which facilitates the two-way exchange of experience and expertise through study tours between regions of the European Union.  The Italian women had undergone a training programme organised through a local organisation called Agriforum Reggio Emilia. This organisation provides training to support the development and improvement of business and assists with start-up initiatives which promote quality regional produce.

A group of Fermanagh enterprises were joined by members of the Green Box programme from the Border Counties of the Republic of Ireland to participate in a return study visit to Reggio Emilia to visit the farms of Italian women who had visited the businesses in Fermanagh in March 2006.  During their time in Reggio Emilia the group were advised that as a result of the Fermanagh visit the Italian women had returned and set up their own Women in Agriculture association. They visited a dairy to see how the famous regional parmesan cheese was made, learned it takes between seven to twenty five years for balsamic vinegar to mature, visited a Buffalo and Donkey farm and tasted salami made from the meat. They learned that unlike small family owned farms farmiliar in N Ireland and the Border Counties that Italian farmers form co-operatives to jointly produce and manufacture their organic produce which is then sold on directly from the farm.