Public policy for the agro-food industry and economic performance of enterprises: evidence from Piedmont, Italy

This work aims to better understand the role played by the Rural Development Programme (RDP) to support the agro-food industry in Piedmont. The agro-food sector is the portion of the production chain dealing with food processing and characterised by the highest added value. Differently from other production sectors, it includes various types of businesses: large farming enterprises, cooperatives of producers, as well as processing industries. The effect of rural development policies is assessed by comparing the economic-financial performance of businesses receiving public support to that of businesses which are not supported through public funds. In order to do so, the sample under investigation comprises enterprises which received financing earmarked for the agro-food industry during the periods 2000-2006 and 2007-2013. Our purpose is to understand the role played by the RDP and how financing affects agro-food businesses, as well as to describe the features of beneficiary enterprises.