Let's stop the SVP's destructive rampage

Federal Councillor Albert Rösti has proven once again that he is incapable of making competent decisions on technically demanding issues.

He is an anti-climate activist and anti-nature activist, writes republik.ch .

And the farmers' president, Markus Ritter, who is partly responsible for these misdeeds, still wants more – unfortunately not what corresponds to common sense.

This very same SVP party is largely responsible for the fact that, for example, around 84 million farm animals were slaughtered in Switzerland in 2022. That's 7 million animals every month, 230,500 per day, 9,600 per hour, 160 per minute, and 2.7 every second! These are the same people who loudly complain whenever wolves attack livestock, often in unprotected herds. Last year, 1,706 animals were killed.

The agricultural sector that produces these mountains of meat is extremely harmful to the climate. It causes well over half of the methane emissions from the entire agricultural sector, which in turn generates around 12.4 percent of Switzerland's greenhouse gases. Furthermore, the cultivation of animal feed occupies around 60% of agricultural land in Switzerland, while an additional 1.2 million tons of animal feed are imported annually, as reported by the Beobachter on May 19, 2023 .

The fact that more and more animals are killed for meat each year is a perpetual ethical catastrophe. No other animal welfare issue affects so many animals.

Speciesism devalues animals solely based on their species. This creates the conditions for the exploitation, torture, and killing of sentient beings for human purposes as a matter of course. Speciesism and racism go hand in hand.

• 82% of agricultural subsidies go towards the production of animal-based foods, only 18% towards crop production.
• The federal government invests 6 million Swiss francs of taxpayers' money annually in meat advertising.
• 1.2 million tons of animal feed are imported annually. This requires an area of arable land twice the size of the entire Swiss arable land.
• Animal feed is grown on 60% of Switzerland's arable land.
• The environmental targets for agriculture set by the federal government have been continuously missed for over 10 years.
• Since 2017, we have had a food security article in our constitution. Nevertheless, we are still 50% dependent on foreign imports.

Comparing tradespeople with farmers ultimately reveals that farmers are a marginal phenomenon and insignificant to the Swiss economy. Agriculture and forestry employ only 3.1 percent of the total workforce in Switzerland. These workers generate 0.7 percent of the country's total economic output, yet they receive 3 billion francs in subsidies.

The city dweller

Every city dweller, with or without family, living in a cramped rented apartment and working a 42-hour week, rubs their eyes in disbelief when they drive through the countryside or into the mountains. Large, ultra-modern farmhouses with solar panels on the roofs, expensive fleets of vehicles—and yet you always hear the residents of these houses complaining.

At the same time, hardly a week goes by without one of these SVP politicians coming into conflict with the law and ending up in the media.

The wolf

In the media, city dwellers sometimes read about the fears of SVP voters regarding wolves. "People no longer dare to leave their houses, and certainly not go into the woods with children," lament hobby sheep breeders, cattle farmers, or hobby hunters in the media.

Last year, 1,706 grazing animals were killed by wolves in Switzerland, most of them in unprotected areas! There are those responsible for this failure to protect livestock – and it certainly isn't the wolf. We must adapt to nature, not the other way around.

In Switzerland, there are far too many farm animals that are exploited, mistreated, and mutilated. Because of these animals, the entire country is disfigured by fences, which massively disrupts the habitat of wildlife and people.

Where the wolf hunts, the forest and biodiversity grow.