Baselbiet proposes two million francs in drought loans for farmers

The Baselbiet canton government has proposed making up to two million Swiss francs available in emergency loans for farmers affected by this summer’s heat and drought, SRF reported. The interest free loans would range from 10,000 to 50,000 francs per farm and would have to be repaid within ten years.

The drought has hit the Northwestern Swiss Jura particularly hard because of its water permeable limestone soils. Some livestock farms are running out of hay, while water intensive crops cannot be irrigated sufficiently. The canton government says the situation has created existential difficulties for some farms.

Maize yields are expected to be 25 to 40 percent below normal this year. Irrigation has in some cases required extreme volumes of water and increased costs, while some farm owned springs have dried up completely. Fruit, potato, berry and young vine crops have also been affected.

Farmers are already using winter feed reserves for their livestock. Feed is scarce and expensive, and hay now costs twice as much as it did in spring, said Marc Brodbeck, president of the farmers association of both Basel. He said shortages existed across Europe and that imports from Canada were even being discussed.

The canton estimates that the feed shortage affects most of its 850 farms. It does not know how many face acute cash flow problems, but said requests for possible financial assistance were steadily increasing. Brodbeck said the full two million francs would be needed and described 2026 as an exception.

The proposed loans would be available to farms that had run into cash flow difficulties because of the drought. Applicants would have to state and justify the amount requested and submit their two most recent annual accounts. The canton says the risk of losses would be minimal because the loans would be secured by mortgages.

According to the canton government, around 70 percent of Baselbiet farms keep livestock. The canton has about 21,150 hectares of agricultural land, 71 percent of which consists of meadows and pasture. Around 320 hectares are used for multi year or permanent crops, which can suffer lasting damage from drought.

The Swiss Farmers Union supports the proposal and said assistance should reach farms quickly and without unnecessary bureaucracy.

The Swiss federal government proposed at the end of August that Parliament provide an additional 54 million francs in interest free operating loans for farms affected by the 2026 situation. The federal government and cantons normally provide such assistance in equal amounts. If that arrangement applies, the Baselbiet government says two million francs from the canton and two million from the federal government could make four million francs available in total.

It remains unclear whether the Baselbiet Parliament will approve the emergency loan proposal. The GLP party has criticised it as another unfair preference for the agricultural sector, arguing that other industries have also been affected by the summer heat.