Collaboratrici e collaboratori

Switzerland, as a non-EU country, has an individual Federal Government Agricultural Policy. This aims inter alia to provide agricultural ecosystem services, reduce environmental impacts, and increase the resilience of the agricultural sector. In comparison to EU proceedings, the new Swiss agricultural policy starting in 2022 (AP22+) is currently on debate (BLW 2018). Agroforestry – the integration of trees and hedges into agricultural production - will be eligible for direct payments, as it can contribute to achieve the overall goals without substantially limiting agricultural production. Agroforestry systems are well-known, widely established, and financially beneficial in Mediterranean countries even nowadays. Contrastingly, in Switzerland mainly traditional agroforestry systems such as fruit orchards, wooded pastures, and chestnut groves remained. These systems are mostly unprofitable, but highly substituted for aesthetic, cultural, and biodiversity reasons. Modern agroforestry systems e.g. alley-cropping, fodder hedges, wooded pastures promise to combine environmentally friendly agricultural production while being rentable and therefore attractive for farmers. Even though this sounds very promising, many questions remain. On the one hand, there are practical questions such as “What does a good system look like?”, “Which local conditions (soil, water, etc.) need to be taken into account?”, and “What is an optimal and fully rentable management?” On the other hand, there are scientific research questions such as “What are the environmental benefits of each system? And how to quantify them?” To answer this cluster of open queries, an applied research project was launched with special focus on Swiss climate, policy, and market conditions. In view of this, several federal administrations (cantons Vaud, Geneva, Neuchatel, and Jura), farmers, and researchers are willing to establish up to 240 ha of modern agroforestry systems in western Switzerland covering the whole range of agricultural – arable and livestock – production. With the aim to measure environmental effects, we started the process by identifying regions where environmental pressures (as defined by the Agricultural Environmental Objectives) occur and where agroforestry systems can contribute to reducing these impacts. Eleven national deficit maps for the environmental sectors of biodiversity, landscape, climate, air, water, and soil were analysed. Specifically, we focussed on regions with soil loss, nitrate and phosphorus surplus, reduced honeybee pollination and pest control potential, corridors for wild animals, water buffers and extreme climate exposure such as temperature rise and precipitation changes. Areas where those deficits exist were selected as potential agroforestry plots. In a second step, agricultural extension services, consultants, and regional advisors will be trained to support farmers in designing and managing optimal agroforestry systems, which are adapted to the present deficits. Within the following 8 years, the applied research project will monitor economic, environmental, and social impacts of these new agroforestry systems. In conclusion, the project will provide a deeper insight in what is practically feasible within Swiss agricultural production. It will demonstrate the limits and the benefits for farmers and society. In addition, it will help to quantify to what extent Swiss environment can benefit. Are the environmentally promising ideas of sustainable intensification realistic? If not, where are the drawbacks? In the end, hopefully, it will enable us to develop strategies geared to local conditions and to environmental targets and can be integrated into future Federal Government Agricultural Policy.