Farmers ask voters to boost local food production

The leftwing farmers’ movement Uniterre has handed in an initiative promoting Swiss agriculture and sustainable food. Its so-called food sovereignty initiative gathered 109,000 signatures, enough to force a nationwide vote. The initiative is one of three similar measures that campaigners have presented since the government’s revised agricultural policy for 2014-2017. The latest text, presented on Wednesday, expounds sustainable, climate friendly and genetic-free farming methods in Switzerland. In particular, wants the government to boost the supply of “healthy food from a diverse agricultural system” that covers its own costs and in line with people’s social and environmental expectations. Another demand is that genetically-modified food should simply be banned in Switzerland. Ulrike Minkner, Uniterre vice-president said it should provoke a “broad public discussion about nutrition and political connections with agriculture.” More than 70 other organisations have ...