Tractor columns entered many Swiss cities yesterday. Farmers demand stability, less bureaucracy and fair prices.
- A wave of agricultural protests has spread throughout Switzerland since last Friday and reached its climax on Monday.
- Tractor protests, pickets and demonstrations took place yesterday in almost all cantons, reports Schweizer Bauer.
- One of the forms of protest was the formation of the slogan “dialogue” from illuminated tractors in the evening in the towns of Gossau and Uster.
As we read, a column of 220 agricultural vehicles entered Eschenbach on Monday and 200 tractors blocked the streets of Gossau. These are the two largest protests in the canton of St. Gallen. A similarly large column of tractors appeared in Winikon in the canton of Zurich. Massive rallies took place in the canton of Bern. However, demonstrations on foot and tractor rides took place in almost all regions.
The organizers of the protests are several agricultural organizations, but many of them were spontaneous and grassroots. Farmers everywhere raised similar demands. They demand from the government, first of all, stabilization, i.e. a continuous and predictable agricultural policy that will allow for planning and development of farms. They are fed up with constant changes in regulations, new restrictions and bureaucratic burdens. They demand the restoration of profitability of production and protection against imports of cheap food from countries with lower production and quality standards. They also want a fair distribution of profits from trade in food produced on their farms and are fed up with the dictates of large retail chains.
Previous mild protests by farmers did not receive the appropriate response from politicians, and retail chains simply ignored the dairy industry’s petition. Now farmers are threatening to intensify the action. They want to finally be taken seriously and enter into an equal dialogue with them.
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