Agroforestry’s Contribution to a Sustainable Agricultural Policy in Switzerland

Future agricultural policy will aim at innovative and sustainable production systems. Using the example of agroforestry, an assessment method based on an expert survey and the literature has now been tested. The results show that agroforestry can support the transformation into a more sustainable agricultural sector.

The vision of the Swiss Confederation’s future agriculture and food policy is expressed by the slogan “Food security through sustainability, from production to consumption.” Agroecology, whose aim is to organise agriculture and the food systems in a manner that is economically and socially as well as ecologically sustainable, represents a promising component of the policy.

A practical example of agroecology are agroforestry systems. They incorporate trees and shrubs into utilised agricultural land, thus storing carbon, improving the water regime and soil quality, and promoting biodiversity. In addition to traditional variants such as standard-fruit-tree meadows or chestnut forests, today there are also modern systems such as the combination of woody plants with arable crops, plant production, viticulture or animal husbandry.

But can agroforestry systems live up to the manifold demands of the Swiss Federal Council’s agriculture strategy? And how can innovative agricultural systems of this kind be assessed efficiently yet reliably? To answer these questions, we had 15 Agroscope experts assess the model example ‘agroforestry’ then combined the results with an analysis of the literature.

Resilient food supply and environmentally friendly production

An assessment matrix based on the 14 subgoals of the future agricultural policy formed the basis of the assessment (see figure). The experts concluded that agroforestry can play a key role in agricultural production in particular (in the strategic thrusts ‘ensure resilient food supply’ and ‘promote environmentally friendly food production’). Subgoal 6 (‘promote biodiversity’) performed the best, followed by subgoal 1 (‘maintain production bases’) and subgoal 2 (‘anticipate the effects of climate change’). In the experts’ view, agroforestry systems have less of an influence on consumption and value creation.

A comparison of the results of the survey with the literature showed high agreement. This shows that interviewing experts from different disciplines allows for an efficient and broad-based assessment of agricultural policy measures.

High relevance for practice

Both researchers and the literature agree: agroforestry systems are suitable as innovative, sustainable and holistic production systems according to the spirit of the future Swiss agriculture and food policy and are a good example of applied agroecology.