Swiss Agriculture: The Swiss Agricultural Policy

Description

When you think of agricultural policy, do you think of factory farming, over-fertilized lakes, and subsidized cheese? Since AP 2022, agriculture has focused on direct payments, ecological performance certificates, and resource conservation.

This course section discusses the development of agricultural policy after the First and Second World Wars, the basics of the 1952 Agricultural Act, and the requirements of the current AP 2022 and beyond.

The experience of supply difficulties in the First World War and the success of the cultivation battle of the Second World War shaped the agricultural policy discussion of the following decades. The 1952 Agricultural Act established extensive protection for Swiss agriculture, including protection against the effects of a free market economy. Subsidies as well as technical and genetic progress soon led to overproduction and increasingly burdened the state budget. Ecologically, the system also reached its limits due to factory farming. Furthermore, external political pressure increased: as a member of GATT and WTO, Switzerland had to commit to reducing price supports and export subsidies.
In 1996, the "Agricultural Policy 2002" was approved in a referendum. This aims for a new, market- and environmentally compliant agriculture. This goal is being pursued further with AP 2022 and 2030+ and has profound transformative effects on agricultural enterprises.

Course instructor: Franziska Borer, Dipl. Ing. Agr. ETH, Agricultural and Environmental Educator

Highlights

• Development of Swiss agricultural policy since the 20th century
• Focus on ecological performance and resource conservation
• Discussion of current reforms and challenges

General Information

The course covers the history and development of Swiss agricultural policy, from the first agricultural revolution to the current AP 2022 and 2030+. It highlights political, ecological, and economic aspects as well as the impacts on agricultural enterprises. The venue is the Volkshochschule Solothurn.

Location

Hauptbahnhofstrasse 8, 4500 Solothurn, Schweiz

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