Economic Impact of Agricultural Liberalisation Policies on Organic Farming in Switzerland

The poor international competitiveness of Swiss agriculture and the high level of border protection in place have given rise to an ongoing public debate in Switzerland about whether agricultural markets should be comprehensively liberalised. More specifically, three different partial revisions of Swiss legislation on agriculture are currently under discussion (AP 2011 reform, WTO liberalisation agreement, EU agricultural free trade agreement), all of which aim to improve the competitiveness of the agri-food industry. Against this background, this thesis shows the potential impact of these policies on land use, livestock husbandry and the financial performance of organic and non-organic farms. In addition, the implications of agricultural liberalisation for the relative profitability of organic farming are explored. The research makes use of the sector-consistent farm group model CH-FARMIS, which enables an assessment of the impact of policy measures on different farm types, regions and organic and non-organic farming.