Swiss food initiative faces opposition over self-sufficiency target

Switzerland’s proposed food initiative aims to raise the country’s net food self-sufficiency rate to 70 percent for 10 years, but it faced opposition from the president, farmers’ representatives and parts of the left during an SRF “Abstimmungs-Arena” debate.

Initiative author Franziska Herren said the proposal was about national security. She argued that the government and Parliament already had a constitutional duty to ensure that the population could feed itself within a year during a crisis.

Federal President Guy Parmelin said the government was working to increase self-sufficiency, but noted that Switzerland was a small country where agriculture could not be carried out everywhere. He rejected opponents’ description of the initiative as imposing veganism, saying it would not ban anyone from eating meat.

However, Parmelin warned that if the initiative passed while people did not change their eating habits, they could increasingly buy food abroad.

Regula Züger, an agronomist and operator of a regenerative farm, supported the proposal. She criticised subsidies for favouring animal products and said feed production used 60 percent of Switzerland’s arable land. In her view, more of that land should be used to grow plant-based food.

SP Council of States member Franziska Roth also opposed the initiative, despite saying that its authors had good intentions. She called the proposal socially unbalanced and argued that its goal was not achievable. Lower-income people could struggle to afford animal products if the initiative were accepted, she said.

Water researcher Klaus Lanz, another supporter, said excessive livestock production caused overfertilisation, which harmed drinking water. He also pointed to problems with agricultural water supplies during this year’s hot summer and said the initiative called for new water management.

Swiss Farmers’ Union President Markus Ritter agreed that investment in water supplies was needed but said the initiative was not necessary. He called its 70 percent target unrealistic, noting that Switzerland last reached that level during the Second World War, when the country had 4.5 million residents and 200,000 more hectares of farmland.

Swiss voters will decide on the food initiative on September 27.