Swiss parliament rejects food initiative

After the Swiss House of Representatives, the Senate on Tuesday rejected the food initiative as too extreme. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox The popular initiative, submitted by a citizens' committee, calls in particular for agricultural policy to be adapted to encourage the production and consumption of plant-based rather than animal-based foodstuffs. + Swiss increasingly cutting down on meat The text also seeks to increase Switzerland's degree of self-sufficiency from 46% to at least 70%, to preserve groundwater resources and to promote sustainable agriculture and the agri-food sector. These requirements must be met within ten years. Parliamentarian Peter Hegglin, speaking on behalf of the committee, pointed out that achieving 70% within such a timeframe was unrealistic. He added that some of the initiative's demands had been incorporated into the work on the 2030+ agricultural policy. The government is also opposed to the text. Adapted from French by ...