Swiss farmers launch simultaneous SOS

Farmers protesting in western Switzerland on Saturday KEYSTONE/© KEYSTONE / LAURENT GILLIERON

Swiss farmers will launch a simultaneous SOS across the country on Thursday evening. The symbolic call for help will be made by tractors gathered in fields, mainly in French-speaking Switzerland. Around ten demonstrations had been announced by midday.

“Between Echallens and Goumoëns, for example, we are expecting up to 500 tractors in a field” to form a life-size SOS, Arnaud Rochat, a farmer from Bavois, canton Vaud, and instigator of the Farmers’ Revolt Switzerland movement told the Swiss News Agency Keystone-ATS via a Facebook group. “It’s a simultaneous call for help.”

In his view, the idea now is to mobilise farmers around targeted demands. On Thursday evening the price of milk will be the focus of attention ahead of the meeting of the Interprofession du Lait scheduled for the following day, at which the target price for milk will be set.

“Farmers are calling for remunerative prices over the long term if our trade is to be viable. We want to be paid for what we produce, with prices that take our costs into account. There is a problem if the price of milk is lower than the price of bottled water,” Rochat said.

+ Why Swiss farmers are rising in protest

Following protests in France, Germany and other European countries, the revolt also spread to Switzerland at the end of January. Since then, there have been several collective, peaceful demonstrations across the country. On the whole, Swiss farmers are asserting their right to fairer pay.

Last Saturday, numerous protest bonfires were organised in the countryside, particularly in the cantons of Vaud and Fribourg. In Chiètres (Fribourg), for example, the rally at the weekend brought together almost 1,000 people and some 400 tractors. Farmers’ Revolt Switzerland says that calls for rallies will continue over the coming weeks and months.

Demands and petition

In a joint press release published on January 29, the Swiss Farmers’ Union, the French-speaking agricultural umbrella organisation Agora and the French-speaking Chambers of Agriculture expressed their concern about the situation of Swiss farmers.

The three organisations were calling for a 5-10% increase in producer prices this year. In future, prices should be set on the basis of production costs and the risks taken, to ensure a fair income, they said.

They have launched a petition in support of their demands. These are based on five points: better recognition of the multiple roles of agriculture, maintenance of resources for the 2025 budget and the 2026-2029 credit, practical solutions adapted to the regional context for farming families, an increase in producer prices, and rejection of any new constraints that would not be remunerated.

Translated from French by DeepL/ts

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