Understanding Alpine Farming for Targeted Policymaking

The heterogeneity of summer farms in the Swiss Alps must be take into account in order to develop effective policy measures. This should lead to improved conservation of the ecological and economic functions of alpine meadows.

Summering pastures are important for agriculture, biodiversity and tourism. However, alpine summer farms are under threat, owing to climate change, skilled-worker shortages and wolves. The abandonment of summer farms can lead to bush encroachment and afforestation, and hence to loss of both biodiversity and the visual landscape.

Swiss agricultural policy supports alpine summering farms with uniform measures and direct payments to meet the challenges they face. However, it is important to understand these highly diverse farms in order to develop differentiated measures that will promote the farms in a cost-efficient manner.

Six different farm types and their possible challenges

What farm types are there in alpine agriculture? Agroscope researchers explored this question by analysing the structural data of 5900 farms. From this they developed a typology of six farm types differing in terms of organisational structure, herd composition, biophysical environment and accessibility. The six farm types are as follows:

1. Private dairy farms

2. Communal mixed cattle and dairy farms

3. Communal cattle farms

4. Remote farms

5. Small private cattle farms

6. Sheep farms.

Next, the potential challenges of the individual farm types as well as possible measures for optimising farm management and agricultural-policy support were addressed based on the characteristics of the different farm types and findings from the literature on Swiss alpine farming:

• Owing to the increasing forage requirements of dairy cattle, the pastures of private dairy farms and communal mixed cattle and dairy farms can quickly become overgrazed, which can lead to soil erosion and higher nutrient input on the more accessible pastures. Due to extensive grazing, communal cattle farms and small private cattle farms probably invest less in the maintenance of pastures, which can lead to bush encroachment. In both cases, improved grazing management and adjustment of the prescribed normal stocking units (NSUs) can help.
• Difficulties with accessibility on remote farms make investment in the transport infrastructure essential.
• With an average of around 200 sheep each, sheep farms are often too small to remain economically viable with expensive herd-protection measures in place. As a result, they are threatened by wolf predation. Here, the merging of farms and collective management can help.

Targeted support and advice essential

A better understanding of these different challenges and of the structural heterogeneity allows for targeted policy measures taking better account of the individual farm types. The Swiss Confederation supports alpine summer farms via direct payments, but does not, for example, take factors such as remoteness and elevation into account, which substantially influence production costs. The farm typology also enables the development of tools for extension services that are specially tailored to the structural features of the individual farm types. Such specific measures would enhance the attractiveness and resilience of alpine farming, even in unfavourable locations. 

This study was conducted at the Alpine and Mountain Farming Experimental Station of Agroscope. With the involvement of the cantons, the sector and extension services, the experimental station develops practical solutions for current and future challenges faced by farms in the mountain region.