Sometimes, randomness is not so random. I recently travelled to Switzerland and guess what? I met a few people who have family here: in a small market in Berne, we met Mrs Binggeli and discussed maple syrup, the Pittet family was spotted in a commune near Gruyere, and we met a few Ravary, their son Dominique is well-known in Quebec as president of Fédération suisse d’élevage Holstein. And after a delicious meal and lots of wine, nostalgia filled the conversation and those who left their villages, their country, their home to find ‘fame and fortune’ in Canada were remembered.

Why Switzerland you say? Because I was in Geneva attending a public symposium given by the WTO about supply management. And since I was already there… I might as well meet with a few of our Swiss counterparts and talk about their celebrated and most singular agricultural production model.

Switzerland, a post card in real time, where bucolic landscapes complement amazing mountain ranges. And within this fairytale décor, agriculture plays a major role. In fact, Switzerland depends on its 65,000 countrymen and women to ensure a level of food self-sufficiency (60%), in addition to preserving the country’s landscape, to living on the land and taking advantage of its natural resources in a ‘sustainable’ fashion.

But Heidi’s heaven may not be so blissful. In fact, for the past few years, the agricultural class has been in crisis. Impossible standards and dubious record sheets are on the rise. There are obligations that would make you scream, and that’s just for animal welfare! But to avoid upsetting your sensibilities I won’t go into detail about environmental standards, nor will I talk about legacy restrictions, which are among the most restrictive in the world.

And another thing, their income, just like our own, has reached new lows. For example, prices in the dairy industry have dropped by 25% over the past 10 years. They make a little more than 70 dollars per hectolitre! The same applies to all other types of production. With little or no debt but extremely limited by very high production costs – in fact the highest in Europe – most Swiss agricultural operations display negative earnings. And in the short-term, the livelihood of several smaller farms is threatened.

To compensate for price decreases and to support its unique agricultural model, the federal government, townships and communes invested more than $4.5 billion in the agricultural industry in 2004. That’s huge! In direct transfers, that’s three times what we get here!

Yet, in spite of this massive effort, Switzerland has lost 25,000 farming operations over the past 12 years. Keeping proportions in mind, their rate of disappearance is even higher than our own here in Quebec! And it’s not over yet. Agreements negotiated by the WTO may further upset their millennium way of life. Dairy quotas are already slated to be abolished by 2009. This makes me want to pray for them.

To tell you the whole story, Swiss countrymen and women are fed up with the post card image. Crushed under the weight of tradition, old buildings, often rated, thus untouchable, are ill-adapted to modern agricultural production. When new barn construction is permitted, they’re built like cathedrals with wood beams capable of supporting an overpass. Regulations go as far as to govern the colour of roof tiles. What’s worse is that income tax laws are such that families must continue agricultural activities even if their financial situation is untenable. Selling the farm would be too disastrous.

Should we really be surprised that faced with these oppressive conditions people dream of leaving their homeland? Canada and Quebec are attractive alternatives, but quota values are a scary thing and are considered disproportionate. And so, thoughts turn to other horizons, such as New Zealand or Brazil, for example.

This said, those who stay seek solutions. Production costs have to be reduced, that’s a given. It’s the new Swiss obsession. So we should expect smaller parcels of land to unite, we should also see increased flexibility as to materials being used, as to the protection of heritage sites and use of agricultural buildings. Moreover, a progressive increase in farm size is also inevitable.

That’s it for the Swiss model. Next month, I’ll tell you all about the American model, which, as you know, is very different from the Swiss! In the meantime, I wish you all a great springtime and much happiness in the months to come.