Organic agriculture has been developing rapidly in recent years in Europe, particularly in Italy. About 23.6 percent of the lands in Europe are organically managed, while in Italy almost one million hectares are involved in organic agriculture (Willer and Yussefi, 2001) with an almost 50 percent growth rate of per-capita spending from 1997 to 2000. The EC regulation 1804/99 regarding organic livestock standards was made into law by the Italian Government in August 2000. In conjunction with the Dept. of Agriculture (ARUSIA) of Umbria, a survey was carried out on a sample of organic (or about to be organic) sheep farms. The aim was to investigate the real possibility of converting the traditional Umbrian sheep farming system to an organic one, with particular attention paid to the interests of the herdsmen. Fifteen farms were selected and a questionnaire was compiled. The results of the study, differentiated according the productive characteristics of the farms (milk, meat and double purpose), highlighted some of the technical problems that arise due to the conversion process and some commercial difficulties, in all types of farms, association with selling the products as 'organic'.