AtlasFood Production & Labour Gautham Ramesh and Yifeng Xie

Public interest in improved diets and the demand for locally produced food has increased in recent years in Switzerland. Yet extreme rainfall and heatwaves caused by climate change challenge food security and the country's stable food supply.

Switzerland has had a long agroecological farming tradition. Although conventional farming dominates today's agricultural sector, guaranteeing agricultural yields consistent with the landscape's ecological capacity, has been the focus since the 10th century.

In the 19th century improved techniques of hay storage and improved tools were introduced into Swiss farming, but it was first in the post World War II period that the major transformation to industrialised agriculture took place. The agriculture sector in Switzerland has then experienced a systematic change in the past two decades, where the main stakeholders of the agricultural industry have shifted from family farms to national and international enterprises, and skilled foreign workers are gradually replacing local farmers. This transition now challenges the role of local farmers in Swiss agriculture.