With 2015 seeing a decrease in earnings, smaller producers are also feeling the consequences of an agricultural policy that they say favours larger and more cost efficient farms. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)
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For Swiss farmers, 2015 wasn’t a successful year. At the beginning of October, the Federal Statistical Office estimated that farmers’ incomes would on average be 11% lower than the previous year.
Part of farmers’ incomes are direct government subsidies. One of the effects of the agricultural policy for 2014-2017 is that larger farms are favoured over smaller ones, making it difficult for farms with smaller turnarounds to make ends meet.
The agricultural policy for 2014-2017 was developed in 2012 as an update of previous policies. These would enable the agricultural sector to deal with future challenges and meet population needs. The main aim of the policy is to increase the services provided by farmers, making an efficient use of resources and minimising the negative effects on the environment.
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Hundreds of farms disappear each year in Switzerland. Some farms, especially mountain farms, are too small to survive. (RTS, swissinfo.ch)
They often rely on the support of charities, like Caritas, which sends nearly a thousand volunteers each year to help on farms for a few days or weeks at a time.
In some cases, farmers are forced to take up a second job just to make ends meet. They are constantly battling to survive and a bad year is all it takes for these farms to close down.
Even though Swiss farmers have access to government subsidies, these are often based on coming up with a new business model. This in turn often requires significant investment in modernisation that small farmers cannot afford, putting these subsidies out of their reach.
Those that manage to raise the capital to modernise are able to cope with the new realities thanks to the subsidies. These farmers see the subsidies as a salary for the important landscape services they provide and the high quality produce that comes out of their farms.
However, even these lucky farmers cannot remain complacent. They have to become market savvy in order to sell their produce and can no longer remain isolated from the wider world. The ones that succeed are more like entrepreneurs than the typical mountain farmers of yesteryears.
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With family farming chosen as the theme for this year's World Food Day, leading activist Vandana Shiva is calling for more support to small farmers.
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.