The Swiss
population calls for an agricultural sector which meets market demands and
operates in an environmentally friendly way. Meadows and pasture make up a full
three quarters of Swiss farmland, with cereals and vegetables being confined to
the lowlands. About one third of farms are involved in crop production. While
many Swiss people still have a romantic image of what agriculture in
Switzerland should look like, changes that have occurred within and outside the
country have had a great impact on Swiss agricultural. Today famers have to
compete on the market and protection against international competition has been
reduced.
1.
Small fields – high cost, what other challenges is
Swiss Agriculture facing?
Find out the most demanding current issues and future challenges in Swiss agriculture.
2. A farmer in the Thurgau would like to grow GM sugar beets. Which constraints would this endeavour face? What additional constraints would apply to other GM plants?
Find out the most demanding current issues and future challenges in Swiss agriculture.
2. A farmer in the Thurgau would like to grow GM sugar beets. Which constraints would this endeavour face? What additional constraints would apply to other GM plants?
Challenges for Swiss Agriculture
Agriculture has a long tradition in the history of Switzerland. It has already faced and successfully coped with various crises such as two World Wars and pest infestations. Challenges like these led to the fact that Swiss agriculture has continuously changed and developed over the past few decades. However, so have the issues and challenges. Nowadays we are confronted with completely different but nonetheless alarming problems too. The most complex and globally-discussed one is the subject of climate change (BAFU, 2013). Connected to this broad topic are several agriculture-related challenges. Longer and drier summers are expected as well as more extreme weather events, hotter summer days and more precipitation-intensive winter periods. Suitable adaptions in crop production and livestock husbandry are being sought for. Furthermore, water scarcity is an upcoming issue for Switzerland too (Fuhrer J., 2014). For this reason, there are investigations for new forms of irrigation and more efficient water usage. Another major challenge drives Switzerland’s ambition to reduce its emission of greenhouse gases. Therefore, farmers are being encouraged to produce in an environmentally-friendly way. To do this, they face the challenge of producing ecologically while still making a satisfactory profit. Examples of this conflict are the extent of fertilizer usage or standard trees (Hochstamm) vs. shorter trees (Niederstamm) (LID-1, 2014). Minor, but still relevant, challenges are the limited availability of cultivatable land and the falling number of practicing farmers (Swissworld).
Agriculture has a long tradition in the history of Switzerland. It has already faced and successfully coped with various crises such as two World Wars and pest infestations. Challenges like these led to the fact that Swiss agriculture has continuously changed and developed over the past few decades. However, so have the issues and challenges. Nowadays we are confronted with completely different but nonetheless alarming problems too. The most complex and globally-discussed one is the subject of climate change (BAFU, 2013). Connected to this broad topic are several agriculture-related challenges. Longer and drier summers are expected as well as more extreme weather events, hotter summer days and more precipitation-intensive winter periods. Suitable adaptions in crop production and livestock husbandry are being sought for. Furthermore, water scarcity is an upcoming issue for Switzerland too (Fuhrer J., 2014). For this reason, there are investigations for new forms of irrigation and more efficient water usage. Another major challenge drives Switzerland’s ambition to reduce its emission of greenhouse gases. Therefore, farmers are being encouraged to produce in an environmentally-friendly way. To do this, they face the challenge of producing ecologically while still making a satisfactory profit. Examples of this conflict are the extent of fertilizer usage or standard trees (Hochstamm) vs. shorter trees (Niederstamm) (LID-1, 2014). Minor, but still relevant, challenges are the limited availability of cultivatable land and the falling number of practicing farmers (Swissworld).
Genetically modified sugar beet
Sugar is a sweetener for which there is high demand. Around one quarter of the worldwide sugar production is gained by cultivating sugar beet (LID-2, 2014), and 7’500 Swiss farmers grow it. All sugar beet grown in Switzerland is delivered to one of its two sugar mills, Aarberg (BE) or Frauenfeld (TG) (LID-3, 2014). The sugar produced is a 100 per cent Swiss-product and therefore gets the label “Suisse Garantie”. This label guarantees ecological cultivation and full production in Switzerland. Another important condition of this label is that no genetically modified organisms are used (AMS, 2014). A Thurgau farmer is therefore not able to deliver his sugar beet to the nearby sugar mill in Frauenfeld. Moreover, it makes no sense to deliver it to an foreign sugar mill either. Cultivation of any GM plant is currently still not allowed in Swiss agriculture. However, a change of the ‘Gentechnikgesetz’ (GTG) has been under discussion since 2003. In 2005 the Swiss people voted for a moratorium on GM species in agriculture that is valid till the end of 2017 (Bundesrat, 2013). GM plant cultivation might be allowed in Switzerland at some point in the future, but there’s still a long way to go until this occurs.
References
AMS – Agro-Marketing Suisse. (2014). Ohne Gentechnik. Abgerufen am 13.03.2014 von: http://www.suissegarantie.ch/de/das-ist-suisse-garantie/ohne-gentechnik.html
BAFU. (2013). Issues related to Agriculture. Abgerufen am 13.03.2014 von: http://www.bafu.admin.ch/klima/00470/11777/12570/index.html?lang=de
Bundesrat. (2013). GVO-Anbau: Bundesrat schickt Koexistenzregelung in die Vernehmlassung. Abgerufen am 13.03.2014 von: https://www.news.admin.ch/message/index.html?lang=de&msg-id=47594
Fuhrer J. (2014). Minimising water use, maintaining productivity. Abgerufen am 13.03.2014 von: http://www.snf.ch/en/researchinFocus/newsroom/Pages/mm-140107-wasserbedarf-minimieren-produktivitaet-erhalten.aspx
LID-1 – Landwirtschaftlicher Informationsdienst. (2014). Fruit Cultivation. Abgerufen am 13.03.2014 von http://www.agriculture.ch/en/facts/plants/fruits/
LID-2 – Landwirtschaftlicher Informationsdienst. (2014). Zuckerrübenbau. Abgerufen am 13.03.2014 von: http://www.agriculture.ch/de/wissen/pflanzen/zuckerruebenbau/
LID-3 – Landwirtschaftlicher Informationsdienst. (2014). Growing Sugar Beets. Abgerufen am 13.03.2014 von: http://www.agriculture.ch/en/facts/plants/sugar-beets/
Swissworld. Current challenges. Abgerufen am 13.03.2014 von: http://www.swissworld.org/en/economy/farming/current_challenges/
Sugar is a sweetener for which there is high demand. Around one quarter of the worldwide sugar production is gained by cultivating sugar beet (LID-2, 2014), and 7’500 Swiss farmers grow it. All sugar beet grown in Switzerland is delivered to one of its two sugar mills, Aarberg (BE) or Frauenfeld (TG) (LID-3, 2014). The sugar produced is a 100 per cent Swiss-product and therefore gets the label “Suisse Garantie”. This label guarantees ecological cultivation and full production in Switzerland. Another important condition of this label is that no genetically modified organisms are used (AMS, 2014). A Thurgau farmer is therefore not able to deliver his sugar beet to the nearby sugar mill in Frauenfeld. Moreover, it makes no sense to deliver it to an foreign sugar mill either. Cultivation of any GM plant is currently still not allowed in Swiss agriculture. However, a change of the ‘Gentechnikgesetz’ (GTG) has been under discussion since 2003. In 2005 the Swiss people voted for a moratorium on GM species in agriculture that is valid till the end of 2017 (Bundesrat, 2013). GM plant cultivation might be allowed in Switzerland at some point in the future, but there’s still a long way to go until this occurs.
References
AMS – Agro-Marketing Suisse. (2014). Ohne Gentechnik. Abgerufen am 13.03.2014 von: http://www.suissegarantie.ch/de/das-ist-suisse-garantie/ohne-gentechnik.html
BAFU. (2013). Issues related to Agriculture. Abgerufen am 13.03.2014 von: http://www.bafu.admin.ch/klima/00470/11777/12570/index.html?lang=de
Bundesrat. (2013). GVO-Anbau: Bundesrat schickt Koexistenzregelung in die Vernehmlassung. Abgerufen am 13.03.2014 von: https://www.news.admin.ch/message/index.html?lang=de&msg-id=47594
Fuhrer J. (2014). Minimising water use, maintaining productivity. Abgerufen am 13.03.2014 von: http://www.snf.ch/en/researchinFocus/newsroom/Pages/mm-140107-wasserbedarf-minimieren-produktivitaet-erhalten.aspx
LID-1 – Landwirtschaftlicher Informationsdienst. (2014). Fruit Cultivation. Abgerufen am 13.03.2014 von http://www.agriculture.ch/en/facts/plants/fruits/
LID-2 – Landwirtschaftlicher Informationsdienst. (2014). Zuckerrübenbau. Abgerufen am 13.03.2014 von: http://www.agriculture.ch/de/wissen/pflanzen/zuckerruebenbau/
LID-3 – Landwirtschaftlicher Informationsdienst. (2014). Growing Sugar Beets. Abgerufen am 13.03.2014 von: http://www.agriculture.ch/en/facts/plants/sugar-beets/
Swissworld. Current challenges. Abgerufen am 13.03.2014 von: http://www.swissworld.org/en/economy/farming/current_challenges/
