The swiss farmers’ union has a committee of young farmers, which are also represented in the managing-committee of the swiss farmers’ union. Just a month ago, the committee of young farmers had the possibility to discuss their most important requests with the director of the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG).
To strengthen young farmers in Switzerland, it is very important to have policies, which are long-lived. At this time, the agricultural policy is changed every four years, but investments are not done just for four years. It takes much more time for amortization. Hence there is a need for steady policies with duration of a minimum of eight years. This would extremely increase the stability and could be very helpful for innovative systems.
There is a need for increasing the attractiveness of being a farmer. In Switzerland, the income of farmers is approximately 40 % lower than the income of comparable jobs, which isn’t very motivating for young farmers
The two most important points to strengthen youth and women in agriculture are to guarantee the access to financial support and to secure the political stability. For policies it is most important to ensure land rights. On this basis, there is higher guaranteed future. To increase the attractiveness of rural areas for young people, the infrastructure should be improved.
The swiss farmers’ union has a committee of young farmers, which are also represented in the managing-committee of the swiss farmers’ union. Just a month ago, the committee of young farmers had the possibility to discuss their most important requests with the director of the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG).
To strengthen young farmers in Switzerland, it is very important to have policies, which are long-lived. At this time, the agricultural policy is changed every four years, but investments are not done just for four years. It takes much more time for amortization. Hence there is a need for steady policies with duration of a minimum of eight years. This would extremely increase the stability and could be very helpful for innovative systems.
There is a need for increasing the attractiveness of being a farmer. In Switzerland, the income of farmers is approximately 40 % lower than the income of comparable jobs, which isn’t very motivating for young farmers
The two most important points to strengthen youth and women in agriculture are to guarantee the access to financial support and to secure the political stability. For policies it is most important to ensure land rights. On this basis, there is higher guaranteed future. To increase the attractiveness of rural areas for young people, the infrastructure should be improved.