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What does the farmer gain? While some suspect this is too little, others point out that wealth in the form of land ownership and high subsidies makes farmers “rich.”
Farmers already think their income is too low. Just a few days ago Swiss farmers protested the federal government’s “regulatory outrage”. Various tractor meetings were also held where farmers protested for higher milk price.
The Federal Council has now presented a report on the incomes of farming families. Blick summarizes the most important points.
one
What is the composition of agricultural income?
The average agricultural income in 2022 was 79,700 francs per holding per year. This is 1.3 percent less than in 2021. But the value had previously increased by almost 32 percent since 2015.
Milk, poultry and beef prices showed positive development and 2022 was a good harvest year. The sharp increase in the cost of production and the collapse in pork prices had a negative impact.
However, “non-agricultural income” is also added to the total income of agricultural households. With these, companies earned an average annual income of 111,284 francs in 2021. That means 31 percent of the income came from “non-agricultural” sources.
2
There’s more money in the valley than in the mountains
There are large regional differences. In 2021, agricultural income in the valley region was 99,948 francs per year, which was 37 percent higher than in the hill region (73,075 francs) and 63 percent higher than in the mountain region (61,139 francs).
3
Family’s annual work unit
The whole family shares in the farm. Family annual earnings per unit of work (FJAE) takes into account the family’s work effort. A family employee counts as a full annual work unit if he works at least 2,800 hours per year on the farm. The average salary per FJAE for all regions in 2021 was 59,822 francs. Earnings per hour were 23.01 francs in the valley region, 15.50 francs in the hill region, 12.86 francs in the mountain region and the average of all regions was 17.02 francs. This is a low figure compared to the income in sectors 2 and 3.
In 2022, the FJAE average decreased by 6.3 percent to 56,100 francs. The Swiss Farmers Union (SBV) describes this development as “extremely worrying”.
Wages in other professions in the agricultural value chain (veterinary, meat and milk processing, transport, accommodation) show that wages there are higher.
4
This is what employees deserve
The proportion of employed workers is currently 24 percent. In many cantons the maximum weekly working time is 55 hours, i.e. 10 hours per day for 5.5 working days per week. The minimum wage in agriculture exists only in the cantons of Neuchâtel (17.07 francs), Geneva (17.10 francs), Vaud (15.71 francs) and Valais (13.90 francs).
5
The size of the company is very important
The amount of agricultural income largely depends on the size of the company: the more agricultural land (LN) a company cultivates, the higher the income generated. A farm with 50 hectares of LN in the mountainous region had an average of five times higher income in 2021 than a farm with less than 10 hectares of LN.
As the number of farms has decreased by 1.8 percent annually over the last five years, the average cultivated area and number of animals has been increasing. Or in other words: Many small companies are forced to close, to the benefit of large companies.
There are currently fewer than 50,000 agricultural businesses in Switzerland. More than 28 percent of them are part-time.
6
What should the federal government do?
The report concludes that the federal government can have a positive impact on income development in agriculture by supporting agriculture to improve its competitive position in the food market, creating good conditions for innovation and reducing the complexity of agricultural policy measures. Good education and business management skills should be required as a prerequisite for financial support.
In order to be able to better follow the development of the income of farming families in the future, the Federal Council considers that a methodological revision of the income comparison is appropriate.
Source :Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
