Valplantes

The Swiss are proud of their agricultural heritage, but in a world of free trade, more and more Swiss mountain framers are finding it hard to survive. In the southern canton of Valais (vall-ay), though, a group of framers has found a novel way to make ends meet. They are members of Valplantes (val-pl-ah-nt) a cooperative that grows medicinal and aromatic plants. It is also the only company in Switzerland that commercially cultivates the familiar alpine flower, edelweiss. Swiss Radio International’s Roy Probert reports.