Archives

by Dr. D. S. A. Wijesundara, Director, National Botanic Gardens

Sustainable agriculture has become a trendy subject discussed at numerous fora by scores of individuals ranging from policy makers and professionals to average laymen. However, it is doubtful whether sustainable agriculture is properly understood by many of those people. The present article attempts to provide some interesting facts on the sustainable agriculture practised in Switzerland.

It is general knowledge that Switzerland is a beautiful country with many picturesque landscapes. Annually, a large number of tourists come to Switzerland for holidaying. Only a few knows that those pristine landscapes are maintained by Swiss farmers.

The most interesting thing about Swiss agriculture is that it is multifunctional. The Swiss population knows that the country needs farmers not just as producers of bread, milk and meat. Switzerland wants her farmers to do the following:

* Feed the masses (almost two thirds of food stuffs consumed domestically are also produced domestically)

* Maintain biodiversity (innumerable animals and plants live in the cultivated areas and are thus in care of the farmers) *

* Secure the genetic basis of food production (the genetic diversity of livestock and plants is a basic requirement for humanity. Seed banks cannot replace the farmers as breeders and conservers of species and variety diversity.)

* Make recreation possible (Recreation in the countryside is a contemporary human need. Agriculture designs and tends the grasslands and arable landscape in the countryside around cities.)

* Guarantee a decentralized settlement of the country and caring for the mountain landscape that tourists love (The cow is still the recognized logo of Switzerland as a holiday destination. And rightly so: the alpine landscape is defined by farming. A modified agriculture is needed to maintain the mountain areas as a space that is used both for tourism and for living.)

In 1900, 31 per cent of the labor force in Switzerland worked on a farm. Today it is just over 4 per cent. But they cultivate 40 per cent of the country's area. The predominant products of Swiss farmers are milk and meat, while some areas also achieve good returns from arable farming. The average size of a farm is 14 hectares of productive land (in 1995). Corresponding figures in France and Germany are 41 and 31 hectares.

Through a series of political motions and referenda, a consensus in agriculture policy in Switzerland is established. It has turned agriculture into a partner for a policy of sustainable development.

On 9th June 1996 the Swiss approved a new Constitutional Article on agriculture by a majority of 77.6 per cent. They declared themselves in favour of multifunctional agriculture" in the service of a sustainable Switzerland.

According to the Federal Constitution, the main functions of agriculture are as follows:

* Secure food supply for the population: in a world where hunger reigns and food production is growing only slightly faster than the population, every country is obliged to maintain a productive agriculture.

* Conservation of natural resources: even a modern, highly technological society requires healthy soil and clean water.

* Tending the cultural landscape: the service to nature and the landscape, previously provided by the farmers as a by product, is now recognized as being as important as production itself.

* Decentralized settlement of the country: the landscape should remain vibrant as a space for living and working farmers and their families are needed to live and work here. Agricultural policy is a key pillar of regional policy.

The strategies proposed to achieve the above are as follows:

* Policies on prices and incomes will increasingly be separated, and the free market will become a key player. The public services of the farmers, in particular ecological ones, will be compensated for by direct payments.

* Government interventions into the market will be reduced. Producers will thus have more leeway.

* The competitiveness of Swiss agriculture will be enhanced.

* Environmentally sound farming will pay off economically: a system of economic incentives for eco-production methods and special efforts to benefit nature and the landscape will promote the economic and ecological objectives.

* The agricultural reform will be put into practice in a series of socially achievable steps. The new agricultural policy in Switzerland is geared towards the double mandate of farming: sustainable production that is responsible to the markets - and that thereby cares for the landscape and conserves resources as a public service.

To achieve this goal, a first phase reduced the price subsidies. As a result, agriculture today makes about two billion Swiss francs, or a good 20 per cent less than in the late 1980s. Consumers were pleased, but farmers suffered a corresponding loss of income. To compensate at least locally, the system of direct payment was extended.

These payments were increasingly tied to ecological criteria, leading to a noticeable improvement in the environmental standards of Swiss farming.

The second phase of reform is about maintaining this standard and improving competitiveness. The reduction of governmental interventions in the market will create more leeway for entrepreneurial activity by farmers. The new dairy system is a good example of this. Milk is by far the most important product of Swiss farming. About half of the milk produced is processed into cheese by over a thousand farms, and half of this cheese is exported.

The Swiss government had previously concerned itself with the dairy industry in a particularly hands-on fashion. It not only protected domestic production through import duties, but also set the price, supported export, steered production and, to a great extent, determined how milk was processed. Farmers thus had the security of the State-guaranteed price, but were trapped in the web of regulations that governed the whole dairy industry. The government prescribed to whom they had to deliver their milk, and that processing cooperative was in turn obliged to buy it.

The new dairy system has changed this dramatically. The price guarantee and the obligation to sell or buy have been removed, while semi-public processing companies, such as the Swiss Cheese Union, have been dissolved. Producers and processors now set the price between themselves. The government provides an additional payment for milk processed into cheese, to enable Swiss cheese production to be competitive.

Experience so far has been impressive: all agents seem to be taking responsible action in line with the market. State spending to guarantee prices and sales in the dairy industry has been reduced from 1.1 billion Swiss francs in 1993 to 0.7 billion in the current year.

The high ecological standard of Swiss agriculture is a positive development. More and more consumers today are looking for quality - produce that is not just tasty and healthy, but has been produced in a way that is natural and animal-friendly. An increasing number of customers is also prepared to pay more for quality in this wider sense.

For produce that is sustainably produced to find buyers, it must be recognizable. A central objective of the agricultural reform is therefore clear regulation of product labeling. Designation of origin and details of production methods are protected. Since 1999 every farm that wishes to receive direct payments of any kind has had to provide proof that it satisfies the required ecological criteria. The requirements for this are largely equivalent to the Integrated Production (IP) Standard.

In particular, the following is required:

* Sound livestock farming: the laws on animal protection must be strictly observed.

* Balanced fertilizer accounts: only so much nutrient may be spread on the fields as can be removed from the soil by the harvest. This reduces the leaching of nitrates into ground water, or the eutrophication of lakes. Excess nitrogen has become a fundamental ecological problem associated with agriculture. Drinking water fountains that had to be closed because of excessive nitrate pollution are only one example.

Nitrogen is a key factor in all habitats; its concentration in the soil determines which plants thrive and which do not. If this concentration is artificially increased, there are considerable consequences. Grass and other plants that thrive on fertilizer flourish at the cost of the species in leaner soils. The entire community changes. Forest vitality also suffers from nitrogen inputs. This is currently the case over wide areas of the whole of central Europe.

Nitrogen oxides from car exhausts, as well as ammonia volatilization from solid and liquid manure, spread over the whole landscape. The critical value for nitrogen oxide inputs is exceeded over most of the Swiss land area. About half the nitrogen emissions into the air and water originate on farms. The agricultural reform will also bring improvements here. Satisfaction of the necessary ecological criteria requires a nutrient balance. The leaching of nitrates into ground water should decrease by about 30 per cent by 2002 (in relation to 1994 figures) while nitrogen emissions into atmosphere should decrease by 15 per cent.

* An appropriate proportion of ecological compensation strips. Seven per cent of agricultural land should be managed as areas of ecological compensation.

* Regulated crop rotation: in arable and vegetable farming, the rotation chosen should have optimum effects on soil fertility and plant health.

* Appropriate soil protection: this particularly includes avoiding erosion and chemical soil pollution.

* Measured application of plant treatment chemicals: pests are kept at bay by their natural enemies if these are specifically encouraged. Spraying takes place only if the pest level exceeds the acceptable limit.

In 1993 only 14 per cent of all farms operated according to the IP standards. As a consequence, the Confederation encouraged the changeover through direct payments during the transitional period. Today practically all farmers can prove that they satisfy the necessary ecological criteria, for very few can afford to do without direct payments. Of course, this proof is also provided by organic farms.

Farmers who do more for their livestock than is required by the Animal Protection Law are rewarded by direct payments for particularly animal friendly rearing systems.

* A farmer who allows his cattle onto the pastures in summer, and also allows them out for at least 13 days per months in winter, has the right to payments under an ordinance.

* Animal friendly indoor rearing systems are promoted by an ordinance. The livestock - cattle, pigs, and poultry - are kept in groups. They can move about as they would normally make their own resting places and have things to keep themselves occupied.

The proportion of organically managed farms has quadrupled in Switzerland since 1993. In 1998 it was 7 per cent. Do everything to promote soil life, avoid everything that damages soil life - this is the basic formula for organic farming. The central points are:

* Closed cycles: the fields use manure that the cattle produce. And the cattle use the fodder that grows on the farm. This requires diverse farms with livestock farming and arable land.

* Prohibition of mineral fertilizers and synthetic pesticides: pest problems are prevented by choosing certain varieties and rotating various crops; weeds are kept down mechanically. Only compost and farm manure are used as fertilizer.

* Sound livestock farming: the guidelines are stricter than the corresponding laws on animal protection.

* No genetically modified organisms (GMOs): risky technologies are not used in organic farming.

"Bio Suisse", the umbrella organization for organic farming regulates monitoring and declaration according to the Swiss "Bio" Ordinance. Species-rich niche habitats in the agricultural area count as ecological compensation strips. Federal payments promote:

* Extensively managed meadows

* Stocks of high fruit trees

* Hedges

* Strips of arable land on which no fertilizer is spread and weeds are welcomed.

Payments for additional nature protection by farmers are made not from the agricultural budget by via the government's nature protection budget. The additional services consist primarily of mowing low moors and dry meadows in a considerate way. Without regular trimming, these near-to-nature habitats become overgrown. In 1999 the government paid farmers 11 million Swiss francs for this tending. A similar payment was made by the cantons.

The impacts of the agricultural reform have so far been as follows:

* The consumption of fertilizer is decreasing: the use of mineral fertilizers is decreasing significantly. The reduction is particularly marked for phosphate fertilizers, the consumption of which has fallen by more than half since the mid-1980s.

* Problematic farms with excessive numbers of livestock have had to cut back: ecological requirements have encouraged farms with too many beef cattle and pigs in indoor rearing to reduce their numbers. The reduction in the amount of manure produced has reduced water pollution.

* Herbicide consumption is decreasing: Swiss farmers have become more responsible in their use of herbicides, and the quantities applied have decreased. A risk assessment of the products used is still needed in order to confirm this trend qualitatively.

* The disappearance of near-to-nature areas in the landscape has been halted: in 1998, there were 42,500 ha of ecological compensation strips in the valley areas, making up 6 per cent of the total area of cultivated land. To stop the disappearance of species in farmland, at least 65,000 ha are needed. This minimum target should be achieved in a couple of years, but today each farm must already have at least 7 per cent of cultivated land for ecological compensation if it is to prove that it satisfies the required ecological criteria.

* Many animals live a happier life: 40 per cent of the beef cattle on Swiss farms lived ecologically in 1998.

* Switzerland fulfills international trade agreements: as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Switzerland committed herself to the reduction of domestic, product-tied support of agriculture by 20%, and the reduction of export subsidies by 36%, by the year 2000. The country holds to this commitment.

* Farmers' income has stabilized: despite markedly reduced producer prices, the income of farmers has stabilized

* Agenda 21 approved in the Earth Summit held at Rio in 1992 formulates principles of action for sustainable development at a national level. Its central postulates are conservation of soil fertility, water protection, and agricultural production that is considerate to resources.

Switzerland's agricultural reform fulfills its environmental policy commitments. The ecological, and sometimes social, aspects of agriculture have become much more prominent over the last decade. But for many farm products and services, ecological ones in particular, there is no functioning market. This is the way Switzerland has begun to make direct payments for services that benefit everybody. Tax money for this is well invested. Studies show that these "external" services of landscape tending and fostering animal and plant diversity are worth several billion Swiss francs. The external costs of agriculture, in the form of environmental pollution, should decrease further in the coming years.

We may not be able follow the Swiss example unerringly as our agricultural systems are poles apart. Switzerlands political and economical systems are also different from ours. However, we will be forced to follow some of the eco-friendly agricultural practices if we are to be competitive in the international market. Sustainability also has as economic aspect. Agriculture that cannot survive competition is not economically sustainable. Greater market influence and thus increased competitiveness on the one hand, and ecological and social sustainability on the other, mutually supplement and reinforce each other - assuming that the external costs and benefits are reflected in the market price of agricultural produce and that the production of public goods are paid directly by the government.

Trade in agricultural produce is still far from reflecting real costs". Many foodstuffs are still too cheap, because costs arising from non-sustainable production in the form of pollution or high energy consumption are externalized. International standards for sustainable agriculture are therefore necessary. If all countries committed themselves to such standards, and if the external costs were added to prices, the significant agricultural postulates of the Rio Earth Summit would be fulfilled.

(This article is largely based on publications by Swiss Federal Office of Agriculture and experience gathered during a conference on sustainable development of mountains, held in Adelboden Switzerland)

www.crescat.com

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries

Produced by Lake House
Copyright © 2003 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager