The PDO Pélardon, the federator of new individual and collective dynamics
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This text analyses the individual and collective dynamics generated by the creation of a PDO goat cheese in the south of France. Surveys with farmers, processors and marketing professionals indicate distinct processes that differ between the farmhouse sector and the dairy sector. The PDO facilitates access to the national market for larger enterprises, thus freeing more than 30 % of the regional supply. This rapid increase in demand influences the farm-produced cheese sector, leading to a certain concentration on larger production units, which are able to rapidly position themselves in regional supermarkets and develop their technical systems for year-round production. On the other hand, smaller farms stick to more traditional production methods, and concentrate on local outlets and/or local traditional cheeses, for which the identification of origin by a PDO is not a necessity. As for the dairy sector, the importance of local governance for cooperatives and the difficulties in managing the seasonal nature of production led to a new qualification of their members’ production methods, legitimising a variety of technical systems.