Attempts by farmers and vegetarians have this flaw

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How well can Switzerland support itself when world trade comes to a sudden halt? How dependent is the country on imports? Such questions have come to many people’s minds since the corona epidemic and the Ukraine war. And that wants to be governed politically. Esther Friedli and Marcel Dettling, who both represent Senior Vice Presidents on the National Council, announced a “farmers’ initiative” last summer. Goal: The degree of self-sufficiency should increase. The recipe: less biodiversity meadows, more land for arable farming. Marcel Dettling puts it this way: “Rather than counting summer birds, farmers should do what they came here for: to produce food.”

Now it sounds very similar from the opposite side: Franziska Herren, who started the drinking water initiative, wants to start a “Vegi-Initiative”. Recipe: produce more vegetables, less meat. Purpose: to increase the degree of self-sufficiency.

“These numbers are misleading”

Friedli and Dettling want to intensify agriculture, while Herren wants to reduce meat production in favor of plant-based foods. However, the logic of both initiatives is the same in one respect: import less, produce more yourself, reduce foreign dependency. This sounds obvious at first. Today, half of Switzerland is foreign-dependent. The self-sufficiency rating is 56 percent gross or 49 percent net when imported feed is taken into account. SP National Councilor Nadine Masshardt, who also chairs the Consumer Protection Foundation, says these figures are within the limits of misleading. Because there is a catch in imports: Everyone who wants to grow plants, whether it is forage corn or peas, needs seeds and seedlings. And most of them come from abroad.

Masshardt asked the Federal Council how dependent Switzerland was on these and other agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides or fuel. He finds the recently published answer to the summoning question startling: for many cultures, no one knows exactly. For others it is clear: rapeseed and sugar beet seeds, for example, come 100 percent from abroad. For vegetables, it is about 90 percent. But this is just an estimate, there are no concrete figures.

More dependency on imports

Masshardt believes people throw sand in their eyes and are made to believe they are safe. “Honestly, you need to include advance payments in the net self-sufficiency rating.” Regarding the announced initiatives, he says: “What increases domestic production does not reduce dependence on imports, even though it is claimed. On the contrary.” Marcel Dettling, SVP, doesn’t want to know anything about it: “This is Chabis. On the contrary, it means that less domestic production reduces foreign dependency.» Franziska Herren says her primary concern is to strike a balance between the production of animal- and plant-based foods that reduce soil and water consumption.

“The initiative also wants to promote soil fertility and biodiversity so that less fertilizer and pesticides have to be imported. It also strengthens native seed and seedling production.” But why does net self-sufficiency actually take into account only feed imports and not all other inputs?The Federal Department of Agriculture has a surprisingly honest answer: because then the self-sufficiency rating will tend towards zero.

Source :Blick