EU food quality policy and rural employment

Changing consumer trends have stimulated the adoption of EU Food Quality Schemes that signal the link between the quality of a food product and its geographical origin. These Food Quality Schemes include the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). This chapter investigates the relationship between the use of the PDO/PGI scheme and rural development, in particular rural employment. The analysis is based on a comparison of the uptake of the PDO/PGI scheme in NUTS2 regions in the EU and regional employment indicators. The results show a positive link between PDO/PGI adoption and rural employment—for instance, because of lower unemployment or higher youth activity rates—in the Mediterranean area and Germany, but this finding cannot be generalized for the whole of the EU. Looking in particular at the EU’s Less Favored Area regions, higher rates of unemployment and long-term unemployment are found in those regions that are more engaged in EU Food Quality Schemes. This counters the EU’s claim that food quality policy can be an important tool to stimulate rural development in Less Favored Areas and in the more remote areas in Europe.