Regulation of supply for Cheese with a protected designation of origin or protected geographical indication

Since 2007, the agri-food market has registered high price volatility, which has led to significant problems, particularly for farmers. At the same time, the European Union is completing the dismantling of the old market policy, which is based on the direct tools of agricultural policy (e.g., quotas and guaranteed prices), and is increasing the adoption of indirect tools1, which do not act directly on the market but on the actors of the market. One of these tools, which is the latest to be adopted, is the regulation of supply with a protected designation of origin and a protected geographical indication (DOP and IGP), which was introduced in 2012 with the approval of the “Milk package”. This article, following an introductory overview, focuses on an assessment of the effect of the regulation of the supply of cheese with a protected designation of origin or a protected geographical indication through the case study of a Grana Padano Dop dairy farm. This is a preliminary work without extendable research results but is useful to understand the potentiality of this new tool of agricultural policy.