Arable land for humans, grassland for animals

«Truly impressive. More than two thirds of our agricultural land is grassland. Ideal for milk production,» writes swissmilk on their advertising posters. Yet what swissmilk conceals in its advertising is the heavy use of concentrated feed and antibiotics in Swiss milk production, which is geared towards maximum output.

Cow's milk, a juice formed from blood and intended for calves. No animal drinks milk after a certain point — only humans do. That is violence.

Concentrated feed instead of food for people

Back in 2017, the Handelszeitung wrote in its article «The Milk Madness in Switzerland»: «The concentrated feed alone (grown domestically and abroad) that is now being fed to cows requires arable land that could feed an additional two million people, were crops for human consumption grown on it instead.»

The use of antibiotics is also immense: nowhere else in Europe do farmers inject their dairy cows with as many antibiotics into the udder as in Switzerland. This promotes antibiotic-resistant bacteria and renders 80 million litres of milk unusable each year. There is no unproblematic disposal of such antibiotic-containing milk, as the Federal Office for Agriculture's information sheet makes clear. If calves are fed this milk to reduce food waste, it promotes antibiotic resistance in their intestinal bacteria. If the milk is disposed of into liquid manure, antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the slurry increase and then make their way onto fields and thus into the food chain. It should be noted that antibiotic-resistant bacteria have been declared the «greatest threat to the health of the Swiss population» by the Federal Expert Committee for Biological Safety.

Feed no Food: There is another way

Yet there is another way. Multi-year field trials conducted by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) under the project «Feed no Food» have shown: reducing concentrated feed inputs frequently results in better cow health and lower production costs.

«Feed no Food» means, in brief: «Arable land first for people, grassland for animals!». Switzerland is far from this ideal: on 60% of our arable land, feed for livestock (maize, grain) is grown, even though cultivating plant-based foods on these same fields could produce far more calories for human consumption. This is the primary reason why our food supply today depends 50% on imports — caused by a misguided subsidy policy that promotes the production and consumption of animal-based foods vastly more than plant-based foods: 2.3 billion versus 0.5 billion. Consider this: in addition, Switzerland imports 1.2 million tonnes of concentrated feed to nourish its 16 million livestock animals.

With the initiative «For Secure Food Supplies», we demand, in the interests of our food security, animal welfare and our health, that the federal government promote a diet based increasingly on plant-based foods and align agriculture and the food industry accordingly.

You can help all animals and our planet with compassion. Choose empathy on your plate and in your glass. Go vegan.