Swiss Farmers’ Union president warns against over-aggressive protests
Markus Ritter has called for the recent protests to lead to better prices for producers. He also warned farmers against demonstrating to the point of creating a bad image.
This content was published on
3 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Русский
ru
Крестьяне в Швейцарии заставили повысить цену молока
“Farmers are very well established in the political arena,” the parliamentarian from the Centre party told Swiss public radio, SRF on Saturday.
In Switzerland, he said, the public might not show be so understanding should farmers engage in the sort of aggressive demonstrations seen in Belgium and France.
Up to now, farmers have understood that they have to win over the public in a moderate way, Ritter said. He compared this to the tactics of climate activists who choose to glue themselves to the road to prevent vehicles from passing. Such increasingly aggressive methods are incomprehensible and undermine their long-term objective, he argued.
Ritter admitted that he had been surprised by the scale of the farmer demonstrations in recent weeks. In the last 30 to 40 years, he had never seen the grassroots, and especially young farmers, capable of organising such actions.
Pressure bears fruit
This pressure from the grassroots has made a significant contribution, notably by leading to a raise of the price of milk by three cents per litre, as announced on Friday evening.
Ritter pointed out that farmers have to bear hidden costs of around CHF300 million ($339 million), which represents 5% to 10% of producer prices.
Until now, it has been the 60 or so inter-professional organisations which have negotiated prices with major retailers. “There was an imbalance,” he said. In future, the Swiss Farmers’ Union will become more involved in these negotiations.
Ritter also pointed out that consumer prices had risen more sharply than farmers were receiving for their produce. This means that processing and trade margins have risen more acutely.
“We need our share too, and it has been steadily decreasing over the last few years”, he said. The positive energy of the protest movement must now be used to obtain higher prices for products.
Translated from French by DeepL/dos
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Rhine flooding: Swiss to invest CHF1 billion with Austria
This content was published on
As part of an international agreement with Austria, the Swiss government wants to pump CHF1 billion ($1.1 billion) into flood protection measures along the Rhine over the next three decades.
Swiss government proposes CHF10 million UNRWA donation
This content was published on
After months of debate, Switzerland plans to give CHF10 million ($11 million) to the UN agency this year, rather than the CHF20 million initially foreseen.
Swiss study: insects mainly migrate at midday and dusk
This content was published on
A study led by the Swiss Ornithological Institute in canton Lucerne is helping to better understand the movement patterns of migratory insects.
Red Cross: 22 staff killed in Middle East since October
This content was published on
The Red Cross and Red Crescent network in Gaza and Israel has lost 22 staff members since last October, the Swiss Red Cross (SRC) said on Wednesday.
Dortmund’s Kobel is first Swiss goalie in Champions League final
This content was published on
Borussia Dortmund’s Gregor Kobel has achieved history by becoming the first Swiss goalkeeper to reach a Champion’s League final.
University students in Switzerland join Gaza protest wave
This content was published on
Pro-Palestinian activists occupied university buildings in Lausanne, Geneva and Zurich on Tuesday, widening the protest movement in the Alpine nation.
TradeXBank to resume full operations after Sberbank Switzerland taken off sanctions list
This content was published on
TradeXBank, the former Swiss branch of Russia’s Sberbank, will be able to resume its dollar-denominated activities from the second half of this year.
Geneva decides not to remove controversial memorials
This content was published on
The city of Geneva has presented an action plan regarding a series of controversial local statues and monuments of historical figures linked to racism, colonialism or slavery.
University of Lausanne calls for end to pro-Palestine sit-in
This content was published on
The pro-Palestinian occupation continues at the University of Lausanne (UNIL). On Monday evening, a group of students refused to agree to the deadline set by the rectorate.
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.