Interprofession and typical products: the case of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

In the modern agri-food sector the need of manage quality and to improve market efficiency has generated new form of governance along the food chain. Even for typical products inter-profession organization is considered one of the most interesting institutions able to link the production phase to the commercialization phase, according to the more general objective to generate a more efficient contract-based relationship between the companies operating in the various phases of the same supply chain. In this framework, this work would like to analyse the specific case of the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese supply chain in relation to the role that an interprofessional body could play and the possibility that it could be established in order to support and increase the action of the protection consortium, or to take over some of its functions. The analysis on the Statute and on the real organization of the Consortium show that this organization is not an interprofessional body as it does not represent all the parties in the supply chain and lacks the other requirements laid down in the other experience. In the case of Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium, it appears necessary to overcome the individualism of the single operators to unite them in associative forms which are able to mediate and represent the collective interests which, in the case of a PDO products, are the substance itself of the history and nature of the product and the relations which link the various operators together. At this condition the Consortium can become the “third party body” protecting the overall interests of the supply chain which is internally expressed democratically and, if possible, unanimously, as is seen in the French experience.