Agriculture In Switzerland Research Articles

Effect of Economic Policies on Income Inequality: A Comparative Study of Switzerland and Bolivia

Purpose: The aim of the study was to examine the effect of economic policies on income inequality: a comparative study of Switzerland and Bolivia. Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: Switzerland, with its advanced economy, implements progressive tax policies, robust social welfare programs, and equitable education systems, contributing to relatively low income inequality. In contrast, Bolivia, a developing nation, faces challenges in reducing income inequality due to less effective economic policies, limited social safety nets, and a larger informal sector. The study underscores that while Switzerland's policies effectively mitigate income disparities, Bolivia's efforts are hindered by structural economic issues and policy limitations. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The Kuznets curve theory, the human capital theory & the social stratification theory may be used to anchor future studies of climate change on risk management practices in agriculture in Switzerland. From a practical perspective, the study provides actionable insights for improving the design and implementation of economic policies. The study offers several policy recommendations for both developed and developing economies. Policymakers in Switzerland should consider revising tax policies to address the increased burden on higher-income individuals and improve the overall equity of the system.

On legal income targets for agriculture in Switzerland and in the European Union

On legal income targets for agriculture in Switzerland and in the European Union

On legal income targets for agriculture in Switzerland and in the European Union

This article deals with the legislation regulating income from agriculture in Switzerland and in the EU. The provision of Article 5(1) of the Swiss Agriculture Act treats agricultural income similarly to incomes from other branches of economy This regulation, however, does not ensure farmers any income guarantee and is not enforceable in courts. The Common Agricultural Policy provisions are more general and also unenforceable. Article 39(1)(b) of the TFEU refers to a “fair standard of living for the agricultural community.” While the average agricultural income in Switzerland in the period 1997–1999 was only 52% of the comparative income, this percentage was already 66% by the period 2017–2019. The agricultural policy 22+ seeks to reduce this income gap even more. In the EU, the average income from agricultural activity increased from 32% in 2009 to 49% in 2017 of the comparative income from other branches and the new CAP policy 2022–2025 also seeks to reduce this income gap further. As can be seen, when compared to income in the economy as a whole, farmers’ income in Switzerland is substantially higher than in the EU. However, both Switzerland and the EU must undertake further efforts to comply with the current legal requirements to support legal income targets in agriculture.

Exploring Agriculture in the Age of Industrial Capitalism

AbstractThis article explores how Swiss agronomists and farmers experienced, perceived, and interpreted the modernization of North American agriculture from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries by examining a series of travel reports, correspondence, diaries, photographs, and film material that they produced about their study trips to the United States and Canada. These sources are an interesting point of departure for transnational perspectives in agricultural history; they reveal not only a great deal about the expectations, anxieties, perceptions, and prejudices that Swiss agriculturalists expressed in their encounter with agricultural institutions, economic mentalities, and farming practices on the other side of the Atlantic, but, in a much broader sense, also about the contested visions of agriculture in the age of industrial capitalism. The article examines how these visitors perceived and interpreted the patterns of agricultural modernization in the United States and Canada and how they comparatively embedded these observations in the epistemic paradigms shaped by their experiences at home. Furthermore, the article explores how the preoccupation with American agriculture and the transformation of knowledge, technology, and practices across the Atlantic shaped the patterns of change in agriculture in Switzerland.

Overcoming divergence: managing expectations from organisers and members in community supported agriculture in Switzerland

Community supported agriculture (CSA) is a producer–consumer union that aims to shift the predominant paradigm in agriculture towards a model based on social justice, fairness, and participation. However, the long-term existence of CSA initiatives, and their ability to build the social capital envisioned by the initiators, can be challenged by a struggle to generate a sufficient income for a fair salary to be paid to the producer. This study aimed to explore the main challenges faced by eight CSAs in Switzerland, along with the pathways they used to address them. The expectations and perceptions of organisers were collected through in-depth photo elicitation interviews, which were analysed using grounded theory. The perspective of members was evaluated using a quantitative survey with 254 responses. The results showed that organisers are often filled with enthusiastic ideas but experience a sense of deflation when they realise that the members follow a more pragmatic approach. The information flow from members to the organisers leading them to new insights for adjustments, is a key component in overcoming divergence between the expectations of members and organisers. Involving members in administration and fieldwork lowers the workload of the organisers and fosters informal social interactions and mutual understanding, which leads to an increase in social capital. Focusing on local embeddedness and co-creation between members and organisers, thus allowing a dynamic evolution of the CSA, was found to be more beneficial for the long-term existence of the CSA than rigidly trying to implement the initial vision of the organisers.

Explaining market shares of organic food: evidence from Swiss household data

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify those product characteristics that are of importance to consumers of organic food in Switzerland. Design/methodology/approach – In order to identify important organic product characteristics, this study applies a Generalized Linear Model using a six-year sample of Swiss household data distinguishing between organic and conventional products at the product level. Findings – The analysis reveals three product-related dimensions of importance. First, Swiss consumers prefer unprocessed organic products over highly processed ones suggesting that communicating potential benefits of organic food is more promising for unprocessed products. Second, organic consumers are reluctant to buy products with high price premiums. Third, Swiss consumers prefer domestically produced organic products over imported ones. Practical implications – The results imply that supporting organic agriculture in Switzerland is still promising from a policy and a marketing perspective as long as the organic price premium is not too high. Originality/value – This paper presents results regarding the determinants of the organic market share in Switzerland. They give a first understanding of which product characteristics determine organic market shares. From a policy as well as from a marketing perspective a further investigation at the household level is promising in order to understand and respond to the needs and expectations of Swiss consumers.

An approach towards explaining market shares of organic food – Evidence from Swiss household data

The market share of organic food in Switzerland is high compared with that in other European countries, and has grown notably in recent years. However, little is known about why the market share of certain organic food products is higher than that of others. Swiss household expenditure data distinguishing between organic and conventional products allow an analysis at the product level. As a result, factors which determine the market share level of different organic food products are identified. Based on the results of this study, the driving factors are categorised into three dimensions. First, a low level of processing is positively related to the organic market share. This suggests that communicating the benefits of organic food is more successful for unprocessed than for processed products. Second, products with high price premiums as well as products that are of importance for the household in terms of its food budget have a clear disadvantage on the market. Third, Swiss consumers seem to have a high preference for domestically produced organic food, since the characteristic of being an imported product is negatively related to the organic market share. The results give a first understanding of what is important to Swiss consumers when it comes to the consumption of organic food. The findings imply that supporting organic agriculture in Switzerland is still promising from a policy perspective as long as the price premium for organic quality stays at a reasonable level. Keywords: consumer behaviour, organic food, generalized linear model, Switzerland

Evolution of farm and manure management and their influence on ammonia emissions from agriculture in Switzerland between 1990 and 2010

The evolution of farm and manure management and their influence on ammonia (NH3) emissions from agriculture in Switzerland between 1990 and 2010 was modeled. In 2010, total agricultural NH3 emissions were 48,290 t N. Livestock contributed 90% (43,480 t N), with the remaining 10% (4760 t N) coming from arable and fodder crops. The emission stages of grazing, housing/exercise yard, manure storage and application produced 3%, 34%, 17% and 46%, respectively, of livestock emissions. Cattle, pigs, poultry, small ruminants, horses and other equids accounted for 78%, 15%, 3%, 2% and 2%, respectively, of the emissions from livestock and manure management. Compared to 1990, total NH3 emissions from agriculture and from livestock decreased by 16% and 14%, respectively. This was mainly due to declining livestock numbers, since the emissions per animal became bigger for most livestock categories between 1990 and 2010. The production volume for milk and meat remained constant or increased slightly. Other factors contributing to the emission mitigation were increased grazing for cattle, the growing importance of low-emission slurry application techniques and a significant reduction in the use of mineral fertilizer. However, production parameters enhancing emissions such as animal-friendly housing systems providing more surface area per animal and total volume of slurry stores increased during this time period. That such developments may counteract emission mitigation illustrates the challenge for regulators to balance the various aims in the striving toward sustainable livestock production. A sensitivity analysis identified parameters related to the excretion of total ammoniacal nitrogen from dairy cows and slurry application as being the most sensitive technical parameters influencing emissions. Further improvements to emission models should therefore focus on these parameters.

Nostalgia versus Pragmatism? How attitudes and interests shape the term sustainable agriculture in Switzerland and New Zealand

National public debates on sustainable agriculture are often framed by the respective attitudes and interests of the dominant stakeholders involved. The objective of this study is to analyse the public debates on sustainable agriculture in Switzerland and New Zealand by means of two stakeholder surveys. The analysis of the questionnaire data revealed that Swiss stakeholders favor a value-based approach to sustainable agriculture whereas their counterparts in New Zealand tend to endorse an innovation-based approach. Moreover, the policy network analysis showed that the public debate in New Zealand is dominated by stakeholders involved in R&D activities whereas advocacy groups, retailers and regulatory agencies tend to be the central players in the Swiss debate. These findings help to explain the more defensive approach to sustainable agriculture in Switzerland and highlight the importance of stakeholder interests in the shaping of the domestic agenda in agricultural policy. While the Swiss approach tends to be more in accordance with the conventional legal principles of sustainable development, the New Zealand approach may turn out to be more effective in addressing the future challenges of sustainable agriculture.

Transdisciplinary co-production of knowledge in the development of organic agriculture in Switzerland

The present study analyses transdisciplinary co-production of knowledge in the development of organic farming in Switzerland by using Fleck's theory of thought styles and thought collectives. Three different phases can be identified throughout the historical development. The initial phase lasting from the beginning of the 1920s to the early 1970s contains numerous characteristics of diverse well-established definitions and concepts of transdisciplinarity and represents a successful transdisciplinary process, which has not been perceived as such in the past and present scientific discussion. The second and third phases show an increasing segregation of thought collectives, caused by internal changes such as the establishment of specialised research institutions and external processes like agriculture policy and market development. These developments led to a decreasing degree of transdisciplinarity. We observe an ambiguous trend: the continuously growing and today well-established positive societal recognition of an initially rather little accepted newcomer movement is associated with the gradual loss of its very valuable forms of knowledge co-production and the related philosophical background. In order to maintain the various forms of transdisciplinary co-production of knowledge, one has to reflect not only their results or outcome but also the whole cooperation process, which has led to these results. The understanding of the historical development and characteristic features of knowledge co-production as presented in this study will help to reinforce transdisciplinary research in organic agriculture and research on transdisciplinarity in general.

Datenbanksystem zur Bestandesbetreuung von Milchviehherden mit Schwerpunkt Eutergesundheit

Integrated herd health management is an effective method to improve animal health as mastitis and fertility disorders in dairy herds. For optimizing the costs and work load for the herd health management, it is necessary to have a data tool that enables a quick and comfortable data handling and provides practicable handouts for extension. The Research Institute of Organic Agriculture in Switzerland (FiBL) has developed such a database-system for the animal health management project "pro-Q". Objective of this database is to combine external available and on-farm collected data and to provide routine tools on herd and cow level (incl. udder quarter level) for farmers, veterinarians and advisers. These tools should give a comprehensive overview over the animal health situation of the herd and the single animal level. Furthermore, the database presented in this article, meets the requirements of a multi-user system with remote-access which enables different instances to gain the requested information.

Mesolithic agriculture in Switzerland? A critical review of the evidence

Accumulating palaeobotanical evidence points to agricultural activity in Central Europe well before the onset of the Neolithic, commonly dated at ca 5500–5200 cal BC. We reinvestigated an existing pollen profile from Soppensee with refined taxonomical resolution by further subdividing the Cerealia pollen type into Triticum t. and Avena t. because the sediments at this site currently provide the highest temporal resolution and precision for the period of interest among all sites in Switzerland. Our new results are in agreement with previous high-resolution investigations from Switzerland showing scattered but consistent presence of pollen of Cerealia, Plantago lanceolata, and other cultural plants or weeds during the late Mesolithic period (6700–5500 cal BC). Chronologically, this palynological evidence for sporadic agricultural activities coincides with a major break in material culture at ca 6700 cal BC (i.e. the transition from early to late Mesolithic). Here, we review possible arguments against palaeobotanical evidences of Mesolithic agriculture (e.g. chronological uncertainties, misidentification, contamination, long-distance transport) and conclude that none of these can explain the consistent pollen pattern observed at several sites. The palynological evidence can, of course, not prove the existence of pre-ceramic agriculture in Central Europe. However, it is so coherent that this topic should be addressed by systematic archaeobotanical analyses in future archaeological studies. If our interpretation should turn out to be true, our conclusions would have fundamental implications for the Neolithic history of Europe. Currently, it is intensely debated whether Central European agriculture developed locally under the influence of incoming ideas from areas where Neolithic farming had already developed earlier (e.g. southeastern Europe) or whether it was introduced by immigrating farmers. On the basis of our results, we suggest that agriculture developed locally throughout the late Mesolithic and Neolithic. Mesolithic trading networks connecting Southern and Central Europe also support the hypothesis of a slow and gradual change towards sessile agriculture, probably as a result of incoming ideas and regional cultural transformation.

Losing Ground: Challenges to Mountain Agriculture in Switzerland

Losing Ground: Challenges to Mountain Agriculture in Switzerland

Animal health in organic agriculture: new guidelines and perspectives for food animal practitioners

In the last decade, the organic agriculture in Switzerland has been substantially increased due to the interest of consumer and financial incentives of the federation. Ruminants take directly or indirectly the largest part from grassland used within the organic managed surfaces. As the contacts between veterinary practice and organic agriculture has increased, the potential for veterinary activity in this area has developed considerably. The organic agriculture guidelines stipulate that all the preventive measures should be taken in feeding, keeping and breeding to insure animal health safety. This requires veterinary services for herd management. The organic status of a farm affects veterinary practice also in the form of alternative therapy/drugs administration and measures like dehorning and tail-docking. An important point in organic managed herds requests that treatment of animals should depend on alternative medical preparations or procedures based on veterinarian's experience and also on the therapeutic effect on the animal species concerned as well as on the disease. However, there are no restrictions on the veterinarian to use registered drugs as long as no alternative therapy, according to experience and possible success, is available to treat the animals. The prophylactic administration of allopathic veterinary drugs is not permissible. Further features in organic farms regarding the use of drugs are the keeping of withholding/withdrawal time, the documentation and the treatment frequency tolerated by organic marketing. Despite the above measures, the animal health has a priority regardless of its organic status. Although management of organic farms represent a unique responsibility, there are still obvious deficits in the education of veterinary practitioners for this new situation. However, in the future the extension of veterinary activity to include the alternative medical therapy should be regarded for the practitioner as a challenge and an opportunity at the same time.

Problemdisparitäten Talgebiet : Berggebiet und agrarpolitische Möglichkeiten zu deren Abbau

Abstract. This article deals with the disparities between mountain and plane agriculture in Switzerland. A first part shows the causes. It states that beside natural conditions as well the development of the specific technology as well the federal agricultural laws lead to increasing disparities. The consequences are discussed, too. The federal agricultural policy responded with three special laws in favour of the mountain agriculture. The character of these laws are also discussed. The problems are not yet solved, specifically it can be observed, that the smaU villages get smaller and the big are growing. The article discusses a number of possibilities to diminish the disparities within the Swiss agriculture: these are (a) more efficiency of the already existing measures, (b) incentives for «new» products and (c) measures, which lead to conditions, that small farms could reach a füll economical existence. This again would increase the number of families in the small mountain villages. Results of planning and field studies are presented.