In the dairy project in mountainous areas (�Mountain Milk�) ran by the Swiss College of Agriculture a farm-specific strategic planning process had been carried out with 49 dairy farms during four visits on each farm. The predicted results for a planning interval of ten years (2004 to 2013) are promising and motivating.The chosen strategies are…
In the dairy project in mountainous areas (�Mountain Milk�) ran by the Swiss College of Agriculture family dairy farms and commercial dairy manufacturers had been coached with methods of action research .The clear objective of the project was defined in establishing a sustainable future for the participating families / manufacturers and their peers. Management instruments…
In this study the de-linked cost of rural landscape maintenance in the Swiss region of Greifensee is calculated in order to asses Economies of Scope in agricultural provision of landscape. The results show that annual costs generated by non-agricultural actors for an area of 3580 ha amount to five million Euros. Over 50% of these…
The importance of agriculture within the regional economy consists not only of the direct employment and added value generated, but also of the effects it has on the rest of the economy. A quantitative survey in four mountain regions in Switzerland shows that basically, that part of agriculture’s contribution to rural development over and above…
In addition to providing other multifunctional services, Swiss agriculture contributes to assuring that the population is supplied with foodstuffs. In the event of a crisis, supplies do not depend primarily on domestic production, but on the foodstuffs available in the mandatory stockpiles and the supply chain. However, the maintenance of production potential is essential for…
A study was carried out to determine by how much the price of the nearest related conventional energy source (reference energy source) would have to rise to make domestic production competitive. In the case of logwood and biogas from biowaste, the requisite price rises amounted to a maximum of 45 %. For rape methyl ester,…
In January 2006, the Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station ART carried out a survey of all farming collectives (FCs) in Switzerland. The aim of the survey was to obtain findings on the organisation of the FCs, as well as on the satisfaction levels and communication and conflict-management strategies of the partners. In the present study, logistic…
For ten years until the extension of equivalence with EC legislation to all food products of animal origin, the Swiss Dairy Inspection and Advisory Service DIAS has delivered competent services to ensure that the requirements for export of the Swiss dairy sector were met with. DIAS has contributed to a high degree to attain high…
Society’s demand for multifunctional benefits is the basis of direct payments in Swiss agricultural policy. However, societal demand changes over time. Therefore this explorative study tries to evaluate future demand for landscape benefits in different Swiss regions. The results of the expert survey show that demand can be differentiated into production-, recreation-, and ecological orientated…
The share of part-time farms in Switzerland is low and continues to decrease. This paper attempts to explain this peculiarity. Regressions show that part-time farms do often (have to) concentrate on products with little revenue. Within product lines, farm size plays a dominant role in explaining labour productivity. On the other hand, part-time farms receive…
To analyse the influence of organic farming on work income per standard working day, multiple regressions are carried out for five different farm types with livestock production. The work incomes of organic farms of the «dairying”, «other cattle» and «combined pigs/poultry» types are approx. CHF 6 (5 to 7%) higher per day than those of…
Farms can only maintain and improve their competitiveness long-term through investment. This paper attempts to determine whether the investment behaviour of farms changes when whole farms or certain production branches merge. To this end, data on individual farms from the investment support measures of the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG) and the cantonal credit…
The aim of the present regression analysis is to identify the determinants for family work income in agriculture, taking account of social, structural and financial factors in our calculations. The analysis is based on the results for the period 1997-2001 of around 3000 Swiss farms analysed by the Farm Accountancy Data Network of ART. The…
Alpine pastures are a distinctive feature of the cultural landscape of Switzerland. Available data indicate that land-use of Alpine pastures decreased during the 20th century. This becomes most evident looking at the spontaneous forest re-growth on marginal land in the Swiss mountains. The decrease in the number of livestock grazing on Alpine pastures has been…
This paper examines the effects of the abolition of export contributions for apple juice concentrate (AJC), scheduled for 2010, on the Swiss apple sector. A dynamic partial equilibrium model (SAPEM) was developed for this purpose. After the projection of the development of the markets for apples and derivative products until 2013 (reference scenario with export…
Structural change in agriculture is not only affected by the next generation’s decision to give up or take over the family farm, but also by the decision to continue running the farm as a fulltime venture or as pluriactivity. In an empirical study, it was shown that it is not the proportion of non-farm-related wageearning…
The Institute of Agricultural- and Food Economics at ETH Zurich analyzes the economic state of Swiss Farms on a periodical basis. The study consists of a performance analysis, and the investigation of stress of competition under a hypothetical adjustment of prices to EU levels. The performance decreased slightly between 2000 and 2004, which was mainly…
The assessment of future development of Swiss agricultural market prices and input costs serves as a basis for generating scenarios. However, often comparability between studies is difficult due to a lack of details about the assumptions. The Institute for Agricultural Economics has developed a database PreDaBa to generate scenarios based on comparable assumptions. The Basisszenario…
Data of the Swiss Health Survey is used to record the financial and social situation of retired farmers in a quantitative and econometric way. It is shown that the income gap between farmers and non-farmers decreases after retirement. Except that old farmers are more often exposed to children than old non-farmers, no significant social differences…
Changing social preferences are a consequence from historical, cultural and societal processes. They led to a cultural movement away from materialistic and towards post-materialistic values which often materialize in public goods or externalities. This leads towards an agriculture whose focus shifts from the supply of food towards satisfying post-materialistic needs. As this needs have specific…
On 17 May 2006 the Federal Council submitted a package of agricultural policy proposal to parliament (Agricultural Policy 2011). The proposed changes to 6 federal laws constitute a further step in the reform of Swiss agricultural policy that was instigated 15 years ago. The Federal Council thereby pursues three aims. Firstly, the potential for lowering…
The present study analyses the influence of certain components or modules of the standard labour unit (SLU) on the work income per annual labour unit. SLU module 1, based on general structural characteristics such as area and livestock numbers, has a major positive impact. The complements to SLU module 1, and module 2, however, do…
A full-cost calculation is made for six arable crops based on the years 2001 to 2003. Direct costs represent between 20 and 30 % of the total costs. Machinery accounts for the main part of the costs (about 30 %), followed by labour costs with 20 %. The comparison of full costs and revenues shows that…
Land-laws in German speaking countries contain restrictions how a farm is valued in cases of succession or inheritance. We construct a system dynamics model to estimate the impacts which legal concepts have for agricultural structures and the land market. It shows that current laws slow down structural change and prevent a broader distribution of land.
The development of an average farm of the ‘dairying/arable crops’ type (20 cows) in the plain area is simulated by means of a dynamic simulation model. As a result of milk price reductions, the farm will suffer continuous equity-capital losses if it maintains its current production. The present study investigates the alternative of specialisation in…
Agroscope FAT Tänikon investigated the farm succession situation in Swiss agriculture on the basis of a postal survey of a representative sample of 776 Swiss male and female farm managers aged 40 and over and their children living on the farm as well as several focus groups. An analysis of the factors and processes determining…
To date, evaluations of direct payments have, in the main, neglected to consider the costs of enforcement and control. However, the question of the degree to which these policy related transaction costs influence the implementation and efficiency of agricultural policy measures is relevant for the development of agricultural policy. An assessment of policy related transaction…
Given the pressure exerted by the high production costs of Swiss agriculture, the production factor of ‘work’ is quite rightly gaining in importance. The current discussion often deals with the quantitative productivity. This kind of productivity however can be bought by a disproportionate input of capital. The present article suggests using the work income earned…