Natura economica delle organizzazioni dei produttori agricoli: un’interpretazione alla luce della teoria neoistituzionale

The paper addresses the problem of economic nature of producers organization. It takes into account recent enhancements of the institutional environment, crucially influencing the agri-Food sector, and aims at examining their consequences at microeconomic level. Several issues are related to the economic nature of the producers’ organization: the choice of type of relationship between a farmer and the organization; the approach in managing the organization, including the specification of a marketing strategy and conflicts solving. The general contractual agreement between farmers and their organization is thought of as a institutional innovation contributing to the organizational variety of the Agri-Food sector. The attributes of the farmers organization as governance structure are examined and the economics of the organization is drawn from of Transaction Cost Economics. The main results of the study is that the producers organization can be identified in terms of hybrid structure of governance. The study also propose an operational approach to the design of agricultural organization.