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Uproar in Switzerland after Swiss dairy bids to make cheese from German milk

A dairy in eastern Switzerland wants to import milk from Germany for their cheese, a move that has angered Swiss farmers.

Published: 25 January 2021 14:31 CET
Uproar in Switzerland after Swiss dairy bids to make cheese from German milk
Swiss milk for Swiss cheese. Photo by AFP

A cheese dairy from the St. Gallen Rhine Valley has submitted an application to the Federal Customs Administration for the permission to import three million litres of milk from Germany, according to a report by SRF public broadcaster. 

The regional milk producers association is urging Customs authorities to reject the request, as approving it would have “disastrous consequences” for Swiss farmers.

Markus Berner, managing director of the United Dairy Farmers told SRF that if the practice of importing milk from abroad were to catch on, the price of Swiss milk would quickly fall to EU levels, making it difficult for Swiss milk producers to make ends meet.

“When milk is imported, the value of Swiss milk will fall and we can’t accept that”, said Urs Werder, who runs a dairy farm in Toggenburg (SG), where he produces organic milk for Appenzeller cheese.

READ MORE: Fondue or fon-don’t: Row erupts over safety of Switzerland’s national dish 

Switzerland produces about 700 different varieties of cheese using only milk from Swiss cows.

Milk can only be imported if it is in short supply in Switzerland, which is not currently the case.

In order to protect local milk producers, high customs duties — 76 cents per litre —are levied on those who want to bring it from abroad for industrial use.

In the case of the St.Gallen dairy, the milk would be processed into cheese and then exported to Germany, so the producers are hoping customs duties will be eliminated.
 

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SWISS CHEESE

‘Critical situation’: Drought threatens Switzerland’s cheese production

The long dry spell has impacted much of the country’s agriculture, including the production of milk and cheese in some Swiss regions.

Published: 16 August 2022 14:55 CEST
‘Critical situation’: Drought threatens Switzerland’s cheese production

It is difficult to imagine Switzerland without its cheese, but the heatwave and lack of water is playing a part in this worst-case scenario, with even the iconic Gruyère under threat. 

Usually, Swiss cows spend the summer high up the mountains, grazing on Alpine pastures until they are brought down – sometimes with a bit of local ceremony – from the mountains onto the plain in the fall.

But this year’s heatwave  and drought have disrupted this traditional process – with parched meadows running short of both grass and water, forcing farmers in canton of Vaud to bring their cattle to the lower ground in the middle of summer.

Vaud agricultural authorities estimate that 60 out of Jura’s 200 mountain pastures are “in acute lack of water” and even though the canton is supplying water to the breeders, “the unprecedented heatwave will in any case affect the production of milk and cheese”, Le Temps daily reported.

READ MORE: EXPLAINED: Why are cows so important in Switzerland?

The situation is similarly dire in the canton of Fribourg, where the famous Gruyère cheese has been produced for centuries.

“The situation is tense, even critical”, according to Frédéric Ménétrey, director of the Fribourg Chamber of Agriculture, who said that 15 alpine pastures that are inaccessible by road are being supplied by private helicopters.

With “lack of water and dry grass”, milk production could be reduced by “20 to 30 percent”, Said Dominique de Buman, president of the Fribourg Cooperative of Alpine Cheese Producers.

This also means that less Gruyère will be made this year and, if heatwaves and droughts become a standard summer weather, “we must reflect on how to adapt the alpine economy and agriculture to global warming”, Éric Mosimann, manager of the Vaud Society of Alpine Economy, pointed out.
 
 READ MORE: How Switzerland is protecting its cheeses from foreign influence

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