Farmers call for Switzerland to tackle reliance on food imports

Swiss farmers want more focus on sustainable domestic food production. © Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller

Switzerland’s domestic agriculture covers only 52% of the country's food needs, and it must do more to ensure food security, the Swiss Farmers’ Union said on Friday.

The 52% represents the so-called net self-sufficiency rate of the last three years, it explains. This means the coming Sunday is “Food Overshoot Day”, when Switzerland will have statistically consumed all the food it produces and will be dependent on imports until the end of the year. “We are therefore relying on growing areas in other countries for our supplies, and continuing to increase our ecological footprint through consumption,” it says.

The farmers’ union also denounces Swiss food waste, saying that around a third of all food produced ends up in the bin.

At a joint press conference on Friday with the sustainability label IP-Suisse, the farmers’ union called for Swiss action to ensure domestic and global food security. It says the watchwords are strengthening ecological and animal-friendly production and transforming the current agricultural policy into a sustainable one.

As in the rest of the world, agricultural land is disappearing in Switzerland, productivity is stagnating and climate-related cultivation risks are increasing, while demand is growing due to population growth.

The union also points out that recent crises such as the war in Ukraine highlight the fragility of supply chains, and that it is developing countries that have suffered the most food insecurity as a result.