Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
The average Swiss resident chomps through 25 kilos of tropical fruit a year. Climate change means local supply is only going to increase. Here are the latest news and stories from Switzerland on Tuesday.
In the news: The fight against sugar, Labour Day unrest, and the 5% of Swiss who are “materially and socially deprived”.
- A broad alliance of health organisations is demanding measures such as a tax on sweet drinks in the fight against sugar consumption, especially by children. Some 2.2 million people in Switzerland suffer from cardiovascular diseases, obesity, diabetes or cancer, the Alliance for Nutrition and Health said today. These diseases account for 80% of healthcare costs, with sugar a significant cause.
- Disturbances broke out in Zurich yesterday as tens of thousands of people attended more than 50 Swiss Labour Day events. By late-afternoon police used water cannon and tear gas against demonstrators after being pelted with objects, including fireworks. Some properties were daubed with paint as crowds in Zurich swelled to an estimated 10,000 people. By evening police said the situation was under control with 11 people taken into custody.
- In 2021, 5% of the population had to go without certain “important goods, services and social activities” due to lack of money. As well as the 5% who had to forgo important expenses – making them “materially and socially deprived” – some 7.9% had to go without buying new clothes or eating or drinking with friends once a month, the Federal Statistical Office said today. However, this indicator was much lower than elsewhere in Europe, where it is 11.9% on average.
The average Swiss resident chomps through 25 kilos of tropical fruit a year. Although the vast majority of this is imported, locally grown citrus fruits are growing strongly.
The 17-hectare Domaine de la Pêcherie and Frésaire in Allaman (pictured) in canton Vaud is the largest organic producer of kiwis in Switzerland. Production started in 1984 and now four million kiwis are grown on the shores of Lake Geneva each year, according to this reportExternal link by Swiss public radio, RTS, today.
Harvested at the end of the year, the chemical-free, organic kiwis ripen in the fridge before being sold on shelves between January and April, said Matthias Faeh, director of the estate. Although kiwis account for 95% of the farm’s income, production remains limited compared with foreign production. In the best years, 400 tonnes of kiwifruit are produced in Allaman, while Switzerland as a whole consumes 12,000 tonnes.
In Switzerland, the Federal Office for Agriculture sets the rules. Although the legislation is strict on imports, anyone can plant whatever species they want. “Thirty years ago rice cultivation wouldn’t have been possible because it was too cold in Switzerland. With global warming, it has become possible, but it also depends on the cultivation methods and the varieties you choose to grow,” said Yvonne Fabian, head of the rice cultivation projectExternal link at national research centre Agroscope. Last year 13 Swiss farmers produced 52 tonnes of rice. Projects to grow almonds and sweet potatoes are currently being carried out by Agroscope.
Global warming has also been good for Niels Rodin, a banker-turned-farmer from canton Vaud who grows organic citrus fruits in his greenhouses covering 3,600m2. Rodin has more than 500 varieties of organic plants. “In the beginning it was really amateur work, a labour of love. I never thought of it as a job – it was my little side thing, my secret garden if I dare say so. Then in 2014 I had my first article in the press. A lot of people were interested. Restaurant owners came to me and said they thought my work was nice and wanted to buy my fruit. That’s what made me want to think in business mode,” he told RTS.
Rodin invested CHF50,000 to set up his business and go from being a tenant of his farmland to being its owner. His clients are private individuals, restaurateurs and top chefs, such as Anne-Sophie Pic, who uses his citrus fruits in her restaurant in the Beau-Rivage Palace hotel in Lausanne. Kévin Vaubourg, the restaurant’s head chef, explains: “You can get orange blossoms from anywhere – from Spain, from Morocco – but they are so fragile that you’ll never have the freshness and power that you can have with proximity.”
In contrast to what the supermarkets offer, local citrus production is not available all year round and comes at a high price. In 2021, the average Swiss consumed 36 kilos of citrus fruits. With global warming and strong consumer demand, Swiss exotic crops are expected to continue to grow, although they won’t be able to outstrip foreign imports.
In the latest Inside Geneva podcast host Imogen Foulkes goes behind the scenes with the ICRC’s prisoner exchange in Yemen.
Speaking to Inside Geneva, Fabrizio Carboni, Near and Middle East regional director for the International Committee of the Red Cross, refers to family ties when discussing the prisoner exchange in Yemen. “Imagine now there is a frontline between us, and my son, my brother, my mother, my father are captured and I can’t see them for a year, or two, three, four.”
Can the move help bring peace to Yemen? According to analyst Daniel Warner, “confidence building is the most important thing in all negotiations, and in any kind of situation such as prisoner exchange, but also in any development of finding peace”.
We also discuss Switzerland’s tricky position over Ukraine, neutrality, and the arms trade. Keith Krause, from the Geneva-based Graduate Institute, warns that “German officials have expressed their dismay that Switzerland would not allow re-export of munitions that Germany had bought several years ago. So, Switzerland finds itself in a very delicate position”.
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