Faced with quinoa, Swiss peasants cry out for the “urgency to act”

While plant products such as houmous. Meanwhile, oats or meat substitutes are booming, Swiss farmers are struggling to follow this trend. Consequently, According to them, cultivating chickpeas or quinoa is not lucrative.

It’s Hartmann

In Pieterlen (Be), the Family Field Telnbach barely attracts the look. Furthermore, What grows there seems, at first glance, to be bad grass. Nevertheless, And yet. Similarly, between a residential area and a railway, We cultivate plants rarely seen in Switzerland: Quinoa, beans, chickpeas, and other legumes.

These protein -rich cultures are in high demand. More. more consumers want to put more plants on their plate, whether to protect the planet, animals or their own health. But on the field side, enthusiasm is not there. Cultivating these plants does not report, say many faced quinoa, swiss peasants cry producers. Result: Swiss plant production is decreasing.

“The major cultures sector is our weak point”recognizes Martin Rufer, director of the Swiss Union of Peasants (USP). This Thursday. the USP has teamed up for the first time with organic Swiss and IP-Suisse organizations for a joint press conference at the Telnbach farm. A rare agreement in an environment where divergences on agricultural issues are frequent. But here, the unit is in order. All agree on the urgency of acting.

Urs Brändli. president of Bio Switzerland, regrets:

A foreign competition brakeless – Faced quinoa, swiss peasants cry

The main obstacle. according to farmers, is the lack of faced quinoa, swiss peasants cry customs protection. Unlike crops such as wheat or potatoes, quinoa, chickpeas or foreign oats enter Switzerland without customs duties or quotas. So that Swiss producers cannot compete with the low -cost foreign competition.

IP-Suisse, which federates nearly 19,000 farms, had launched the culture of Quinoa in 2015. But this year, she threw in the towel. “It’s just not profitable”tranche Christophe Eggenschwiler, director of the organization. It also points to the absence of effective products to combat weeds. the appearance of new parasites and the effects of global warming.

Some peasants persevered

Faced with difficulties, agricultural organizations demand more support from the Confederation. On the government side, expectations are tempered. International law. and in particular the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), is strongly limited to Switzerland to increase faced quinoa, swiss peasants cry its customs protection. And if it had to be done. it would be necessary to expect to have to make concessions in other agricultural sectors.

In 2023, the Confederation still introduced direct payments for legumes intended for human consumption, such as chickpeas. But an increase in these aids seems unlikely in the short termin a context of budgetary rigor.

Despite everything, The Telnbach family perseveres. Their local quinoa remains requested in their small store on the farm. This year, they will probably not harvest more than 50 kilos.

Translated and adapted from German by Léon Dietrich