"The world needs FiBL"

Bernard Lehmann has been the President of the Foundation Council of FiBL Switzerland since 2022. From 2011 to 2019, he was the head of the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture FOAG, before which he was a professor of Agricultural Economics at ETH Zurich for over 20 years. At the United Nations, he is involved in the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition and on the board of the Global Crop Diversity Trust. He is also the Chairman of the Platform Science and Policy of the Swiss Academy of Sciences.

You have been the President of the FiBL Foundation Council for over a year now, and have been a member of the council since 2019. What is your assessment?

I accepted the position with great respect because it involves responsibility. It concerns the financial framework, but also the commitment in the event of a crisis, as we had with the departure from the Board of Directors. I believe that in this crisis we have – all together – taken the right steps for the future.

FiBL has grown strongly and is on a solid footing thanks to the basic funding from the federal government. Nevertheless, where does the shoe pinch in Frick?

When you grow quickly, so do the challenges, and more systematic approaches become necessary. With over 300 employees, the administration needs to be standardised, which is a process.

What visions do you have for the future of the institute?

FiBL should carry out research to find good solutions for the organic agriculture of the future. The institute knows its target audience, the organic farmers. However, the rest of agriculture, politics and the food industry are also interested in the results. We are incorporating this into a renewed strategy. If the whole world is talking about agroecology, we have to position ourselves and show how far we have already come. Specifically, our strategy states that we are an institute for an agroecological model which is called organic. Organic is already very advanced in all aspects of agroecology.

How did you first come into contact with FiBL?

At the end of the 1980s, I was working at the Swiss Farmers' Union when Henri Suter from FiBL came to us to introduce the "green innovation". Later, I was able to give a lecture at the ETH together with Otto Schmid from FiBL. Over time, further collaborations came about, for example with the former director of FiBL Urs Niggli or the former head of socioeconomics Matthias Stolze. This led to new collaborations, such as those that already existed with Agroscope.

You became Director of the Federal Office for Agriculture FOAG in 2011 and retired in 2019. However, you are far from retired; in addition to FiBL, you are involved in several committees. What drives you?

My retirement coincided with the pandemic – everything was kind of turned off. Then the requests came in for all four of my commitments. At FiBL, I grew to love the institution over the years. When I deal with issues such as malnutrition and food safety, it is also a way of giving something back on a voluntary basis from the many inputs I have received. At FiBL, on the other hand, I have a special leadership role, which I fulfil in an extremely participative way; I would rather call it helping to shape the future and bear responsibility.

What was it like to switch from the FOAG specialising in conventional agriculture to organic and FiBL?

The FOAG has long since been given the objective by the parliament of moving agriculture toward organic. So, it's more a case of conventional farmers having to change step by step. There have been and continue to be more and more agroecological approaches and forms of contribution adapted to them.

You were an ETH professor of agricultural economics, but you have always been an advocate for agroecology. Why?

We introduced this specialisation at ETH in 1996, which initially piqued little interest. Today it's different, agroecology is very well established and comprehensive with thirteen principles, six of which are economic. It is about value chains, pricing and sustainability. Agroecology is an invitation to take a path that leads away from the status quo. Many people in agriculture in the Global South have no rights and are day labourers. We also have a major gender problem: women work, but they have little or no say. Agroecology is a great vehicle for the most pressing issues and actually has no alternative; there is no way around it.

We need to move towards climate neutrality. Are we on the right track with organic?

If we look at the calories that agriculture produces globally, there are twice as many as are ultimately consumed. Food loss and food waste are a major problem. In the Global North, sixteen edible plants are used for fuel and heating energy, which is not good. Thirty percent are used as feed for animals, which doesn't make sense either. Ultimately, a different awareness is needed along the entire food chain from field to plate. Against this background, production methods such as organic, which are somewhat lower in terms of yield – but are much more environmentally friendly – are the right way forward.

The climate problem can only be solved globally, as can food security. Isn't the influence of Switzerland or FiBL completely insignificant?

FiBL achieves a lot because it has a lot of successful publications. We are talking about around 90 high-ranking publications per year, i.e. publications that are used and cited. The world needs FiBL as a mediator of knowledge. Each department works intensively with partners in Switzerland and elsewhere. But perhaps FiBL could strengthen its internal co-operation and define topics in which several departments work together. The institute could then provide clearer answers to complex questions. FiBL could become a little more visible.

Your presidency of the Foundation Council is greatly appreciated by the entire FiBL. How long will you stay?

It will be for a limited period. We discussed it before my candidature. Together we will find the right time for a replacement. At the moment, I'm really looking forward to taking on this role. At the end of this year, I will relinquish one of my two UN mandates, namely the position on the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition. Then I will have more free time, which I am looking forward to.

Interview: Beat Grossrieder and Sabine Reinecke, FiBL

This is a shortened version of an interview that appeared in issue 9/23 of the Bioaktuell magazine. It is available as a PDF in German, French and Italian.

Further information

Links

• orgprints.org: Interview in the Bioaktuell magazine 9/23 (in German)
• orgprints.org: Interview in the Bioaktuell magazine 9/23 (in French)
• orgprints.org: Interview in the Bioaktuell magazine 9/23 (in Italian)