Initiative for a more self-sufficient Swiss food sector submitted

Swiss citizens are likely to vote on a proposal for a more plant-based and self-sufficient food production sector after a people’s initiative was submitted in Bern.

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The initiative “For food security – by strengthening sustainable domestic production, more plant-based food and clean drinking water” was submitted to the Federal Chancellery on Friday with 113,103 signatures; 100,000 are needed to force a public vote.

Franziska Herren from the “Clean Water for All” association and six others are behind the initiative. Herren was the driving force behind a drinking water initiative rejected by voters in June 2021.

+ Read more about the 2021 drinking water initiative here

The new initiative calls for a level of self-sufficiency in food supply of at least 70%. The current level of 50% dependence on imports from abroad is due to the highly subsidised production of animal-based foodstuffs in Switzerland, and not due to a lack of land, the initiators claim.

Some 60% of Swiss arable land is used to grow animal feed. If more focus was placed on plant-based foods, many more calories could be produced per hectare, they say.

The initiative also calls for the safeguarding of two vital agricultural production bases: biodiversity and soil fertility. These “free services” provided by nature are being destroyed by fertilisers and pesticides, writes the committee.

The committee also claims that neglected water protection schemes, drinking water wells that have been shut down due to nitrates and pesticides, and increased drought are increasingly jeopardising the supply of clean drinking water.

Adapted from German by DeepL/dos

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