
Promoting healthy eating and preventing regional cultivation
There is a contradiction between nutritional recommendations and agricultural policy: the federal government wants us to eat more fruit, vegetables and plant-based proteins. At the same time, however, it is making it impossible for farmers to protect their crops.
Monday, January 20, 2025
The Swiss food pyramid was updated in autumn 2024. They show the way to a healthy and sustainable diet. The recommendations include eating lots of vegetables and fruit, preferably regional and seasonal, as well as plant-based proteins such as lentils, beans and chickpeas. Meat and fish, on the other hand, should be consumed sparingly – no more than two to three portions per week. The NZZ shows in a worthwhile article: There is a huge gap between theory and practice.
While the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) is vigorously promoting plant-based nutrition, domestic production of these foods is declining, as the NZZ writes. The cultivation of vegetables, fruit, cereals and oilseeds is steadily decreasing. Instead of taking countermeasures, the federal government is exacerbating the problem. The same federal office is continuously depriving farmers of the means to protect their crops. And modern pesticides are rarely approved. According to research by the NZZ, 660 applications for new pesticides were pending at the end of 2024. The BLV is dragging its feet, even though the products have long been available to farmers in neighbouring European countries.
Lack of protection
This is a disaster for farmers. Without effective means, they can hardly protect their fields from diseases and pests. Yields are shrinking and quality is suffering. The situation is particularly dramatic for onions and potatoes. Fungal diseases have destroyed entire harvests, with organic farmers often suffering losses of more than 50 per cent. In addition, the federal government provides subsidies for not using pesticides. This goes against all principles of resource efficiency and is state-sponsored food waste in the field. Many farmers are considering giving up cultivation altogether. Solutions are also lacking for other crops: there are hardly any effective means of combating wireworms, aphids or whiteflies.
The result: the import of food is increasing. Products that are produced under conditions that would be unthinkable in this country end up on our shelves. The ecological footprint is shifted abroad. The goal of a sustainable agriculture and food industry is receding into the distance. According to the NZZ, the federal government emphasises that the reduction in pesticides is lowering environmental pollution. But the calculation does not add up, because all the resources used must be taken into account. At the same time, the federal government admits in its agricultural report that certain crops can only be partially protected from harmful organisms. A declaration of surrender.
Fewer and fewer pesticides
Farmers are also struggling with resistance because they have only a few active ingredients at their disposal. Some crops are being abandoned altogether. Diversity in agriculture is dwindling. When harvest losses are high, efficiency suffers most of all. This is not environmentally friendly. Despite high resource consumption, only a small yield remains. ‘Because we can fall back on fewer and fewer pesticides, we are often no longer able to protect our crops,’ the NZZ quotes the director of the Association of Swiss Vegetable Producers as saying.
The situation is also untenable for farmers. David Brugger, responsible for plant protection at the Swiss Farmers' Union, fears that farmers will feel the lack of plant protection even more acutely. The constantly increasing number of emergency approvals is also a sign of the plant protection crisis. The approval backlog for plant protection products is threatening an industry that, according to the food pyramid, should actually be providing more plant-based calories.
EU authorisation and new breeding methods
One possible solution to ease the backlog of applications at the FSVO would be to authorise plant protection products that have already been authorised in comparable EU countries. A corresponding ordinance, such as the implementation of a parliamentary initiative referred by both chambers of parliament, is in preparation. This would enable innovative active ingredients to reach the market faster. Progress in breeding is a glimmer of hope. New, more resistant vegetable varieties could help to reduce the use of pesticides. However, even these plants are not safe from pests. Conclusion: if Switzerland's nutritional recommendations are to be truly holistic, farmers must also be given the means to protect their harvests. Otherwise, the desire for regional, plant-based foods will remain a pipe dream.
Sources
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