Drought drives up Swiss milk and potato prices

Drought and heat are affecting harvests; milk and potatoes are more expensive Keystone-SDA

The heatwaves and prolonged drought in Switzerland this summer are having a profound impact on the agricultural sector.

With harvests decimated and production costs soaring due to the need for supplementary irrigation, the economic consequences are now being felt directly in prices, that are already confirmed for milk and potatoes.

According to estimates by the Swiss Farmers’ Union (USC), total losses for Swiss agriculture will amount to CHF522 million in 2026. “This figure matches the losses recorded in 2003, another year characterised by a record-breaking heatwave,” a spokesperson told AWP.

The USC estimates that 50% of the grain maize harvest has been lost, whilst losses for forage maize have reached 30%. Potatoes and sugar beet have both seen a 20% decline and 10% for soya, sunflowers and fresh vegetables.

Fresh fruit has seen a 5% decline. Crops, such as hay have been hit hardest, with losses reaching 40%.

The most alarming figure concerns potatoes. According to the trade organisation Swisspatat, production in 2026 stood at 333,000 tonnes, the lowest level ever recorded. Compared with the average for the five-year period 2020–2025 (411,000 tonnes), this represents a fall of almost 20%.

Switzerland will have to import around 130,000 tonnes of potatoes. The outlook is also bleak for sugar beet, with an estimated shortfall of 25,000 tonnes, according to preliminary calculations by the Swiss Sugar Beet Growers’ Federation.

The fruit sector has not been spared either, with the cherry harvest 15% lower than forecast, with similar problems for plums and raspberries.

“For vegetables currently growing and due to be harvested in the autumn for storage, we can expect smaller sizes and lower yields,” said Markus Waber, deputy director of the Swiss Union of Vegetable Producers.

In the face of these losses and the higher costs incurred for irrigation, agricultural organisations have begun negotiations to adjust prices. For milk, an indicative increase of four centimes per litre has already been agreed, and the sector will ask the Confederation for a further four centimes in support to tackle the emergency.

In the potato sector, however, producers have secured a price rise of just two centimes per kilo from the major retailers.

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Translated from Italian, reviewed by an English Department journalist.