Are the Swiss Preparing their Farms for a Disaster?

Switzerland is about to pass a piece of legislation supporting domestic farming. Like the country’s vaunted program of mandatory military training, the farm program aims to make Switzerland more self-sufficient by securing the agricultural resources to feed all its people. Bloomberg’s Mara Bernath reports:

The main aim is to secure the country’s ability to feed its 8.4 million inhabitants. In terms of calories from animal products, Switzerland has already reached self-sufficiency albeit only at first glance: Factoring out imported fodder, the country can only provide three quarters of the calories derived from animal products. With plant-based foodstuff, the number constantly hovers below 50 percent.

While the total amount of government subsidies allocated to agriculture and food production has been relatively stable over the last few years, how that support is paid out to farmers has changed. Policies to boost production and sales of agricultural products were the main pillar of government spending in the early 1990s, whereas today almost all money is paid directly to farmers.