"My food is my choice. No to forced veganism" - posters with such messages can be seen in many places in Switzerland. These messages are aimed at Franziska Herren - activist and creator of the "Food Initiative", which the Swiss will vote for on September 27. Herren's goal is to increase local production and focus more on plant-based foods at the expense of animal-based ones.
Currently, Swiss agriculture satisfies just under half of the country's food needs, with the rest imported. For comparison - Germany produces 80 percent of its food needs itself. The Swiss Food Initiative, as it is called for short, aims to increase the share of domestic food production to 70 percent over the next 10 years, making the country less dependent on imports.
More plant-based food
Herren is a mother of two grown-up children, a former fitness trainer and an environmental activist. She is a vegan herself, but rejects the accusation that the food initiative was intended to make others vegan like her. “My children eat meat”, the woman explains to the German public broadcaster ARD. According to her, the problem in Switzerland is the scale - 75 percent of agricultural subsidies go to livestock farming. The country produces too little plant-based food, Herren points out.
She and her supporters want agriculture to become more efficient. "This means that pastures should be used for meat production, and arable land, where fodder corn is currently grown, should be used to grow more legumes and cereals, as well as vegetables. Then we will be able to produce ten times more calories for the population," says the initiative committee.
The government is against the initiative
The Swiss government, the Federal Council and the parliament, which are rarely so united, reject the initiative. Among the arguments is that the idea is not completely wrong in its essence, but goes too far, as it interferes with the citizens' menu and the economic freedom of farmers.
Martin Rufer from the Swiss Farmers' Union recalls that Switzerland is primarily a mountainous country. "70 percent of the area used for agriculture is pastures and green areas. They can only be used for livestock farming," he points out. "This in itself shows that we simply need to have a highly developed livestock industry", ARD quotes him as saying.