On the lower Borstböhl Alp in Appenzell.
Markus Bühler-Rasom
Not so far from the town of Thun, but high above at an elevation of 1,200 to 1,800 metres, lies the Alp Langenegg. Fritz Fahrni presides over the Alpine farming regulations that govern the summer grazing of 60 cattle plus half a dozen calves and 20 goats.
Markus Bühler-Rasom
The development of the firm Emmi reads like a history of milk production. Whereas originally its main product was Sbrinz cheese, today the flagship is Caffè Latte. The photo shows Emmi’s main production facility in Suhr.
Markus Bühler-Rasom
"Good fire!" is the traditional call of the charcoal burners before the kiln is fired up. You can still hear this call in Bramboden, a hamlet in the Napf region. Up here, a handful of mountain farmers continue the old handiwork on the side.
Markus Bühler-Rasom
The Schmadribach falls in the Bernese Oberland.
Markus Bühler-Rasom
Aline Defayes in Leytron, canton Valais. Every June the lower Valais region gets restless. Everywhere you can see farmers and walkers roaming the orchards, and they’re all asking themselves the same thing: “Are they ripe?” The apricot is the diva of the fruit world: no sooner is she ripe, the season is over.
Markus Bühler-Rasom
Nesselnbach is home to the largest biogas plant in Switzerland. Tens of thousands of tonnes of leftovers, retail produce and similar products from the food industry plus 4,000 tonnes of manure are turned into energy.
Markus Bühler-Rasom
Mozzarella production in Schangnau in the Emmental region. There was a time when mozzarella was considered on par with the devil. Who would want such a pale, watery lump of cheese in their dairies, let alone in their shops? But times and tastes have changed, and with them business models. At the end of the 1990s innovative farmers brought a few Romanian water buffaloes to Schangnau, and from their milk true Emmentaler mozzarella is produced.
Markus Bühler-Rasom
Night work at the sugar refinery in Frauenfeld. Schweizer Zucker operates this factory and another in Aarberg. In the two locations a total of 1.7 million tonnes of sugar beet are processed, producing around 300,000 tonnes of sugar.
Markus Bühler-Rasom
A Polish farmhand on the Langenegg Alp near Thun.
Markus Bühler-Rasom
Alois von Moos is a hay farmer from Sachseln, canton Obwalden. The steeper the mountain, the harder the work. To this day, hay is cut in a harsh and steep terrain.
Markus Bühler-Rasom
In the first half of the 20th century, tobacco production in Switzerland exceeded demand. In the meantime, local production has dropped to less than 1% of consumption. There are still tobacco farmers in cantons Vaud and Fribourg, near the River Rhone, in Jura, in Lucerne and Aargau, as well as in eastern Switzerland – for example, in Attikon near Winterthur. Here, the freshly harvested tobacco is hung to dry.
Markus Bühler-Rasom
Whether it’s bidding on a few cows or – as shown here in May 2012 in Guggisberg – the breaking up of a fairly large farm, an auction is always an emotional affair. Agriculture continues to change. Every year 1,000-1,500 farms close their barn doors for ever.
Markus Bühler-Rasom
Markus Wicki, a charcoal burner from Bramboden in canton Lucerne, produces his charcoal for the retail chain Otto’s.
Markus Bühler-Rasom
Swiss photographer Markus Bühler-Rasom’s idea was to portray Swiss agriculture as it currently exists. The resulting photos depict on the one hand the technical, unemotional production process. On the other, they reflect Swiss farmers’ dignity, pride and devotion to their homeland.
Swiss agriculture isn’t easy to classify. There is the romantic, traditional notion of a Switzerland populated by freedom-loving, independent farmers. At the same time, domestic agriculture is often ridiculed by more urbane citizens who view it in terms of tourist attractions, folklore, inefficiency, subventions and myths.
This duality is also reflected in Bühler-Rasom’s photographs. What is special about them is that they go beyond stereotypes. His goal was to take an inventory of Swiss farming; he studied the subject over a period of years with the devotion of a researcher. “I want to know what it’s like,” he says simply.
(Images: Markus Bühler-Rasom; Text: Peter Siegenthaler, swissinfo.ch)
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.