Swiss farmers face worst hardship when winter feed runs out

Swiss farmers could face their most serious hardship in winter, when feed stocks run out after a hot, dry summer, SRF reported. Many farming families are already dealing with feed shortages, sick cows, low milk prices, withered grass, lack of sleep and family tensions.

However, the farming helpline is receiving only slightly more calls than usual. The charitable service takes around 150 calls a year, and its volunteers expect the number to rise later in the year.

Marie-Louise Koller, a farmer responsible for communications at the helpline, said many farmers were currently focused on getting through the immediate crisis, organising care for their animals and dealing with the most urgent tasks. Bills, exhaustion, personal problems and fears about their livelihoods would come later.

Jürg Iseli, a farmer and president of the Bernese Farmers’ Association, said many farms could face their hardest period in winter. He warned that farmers might realise the full consequences of the situation at the start of the year, when haylofts were empty and silage bales had been used up.

Koller said the situation would become particularly serious if farmers had exhausted every option, including selling animals and carefully rationing feed, but still had nothing left. She said this summer’s heat could force some farm operators to give up.

Iseli did not rule out an above-average number of farm closures. Koller said the hot summer alone would not normally be enough to force a fundamentally sound farm out of business, but it could push farms that had already been operating at their financial or personal limits over the edge.

Iseli said he had heard of farms that had already closed, although it was unclear whether their operators had contacted the helpline beforehand. He said farms that closed would probably be taken over quickly by other agricultural businesses, accelerating structural change in farming.