Comments
• Compared to one hundred years ago, yields of Switzerland’s major crops have more than doubled due to optimized cultivation techniques, new varieties bred for greater yield potential, improved nutrient supply and more intense plant protection measures. SInce the 1990s, yields have not only been increasing less markedly, but in part actually declined.
• Between 1975 and 1990, mean yields per area of wheat and barley increased by around a third. In the 1990s, yields of both crops remained at similar levels, which is still the case for wheat. As regards barley, however, yields recently started increasing again.
• Yields per area of rapeseed and potatoes have hardly changed at all in roughly 20 years. Lately, however, they have been increasing again, especially as regards rapeseed.
• 1992 marked the introduction of extensive cereal cultivation. These so-called “extenso” cereals are characterized by lower yields than cereals grown conventionally.
• Sugar beet yields have been increasing more or less steadily between 1975 and 2007.

Animal production
The following table lists numbers of livestock per hectare of utilized agricultural area in Switzerland.

Mean livestock numbers in Switzerland, expressed in livestock units (LUs) per hectare.

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Switzerland	1,15	1,14	1,14	1,15	1,14	1,14	1,15	1,16	1,16

Interpretation example
In 2007, livestock numbers in Switzerland averaged 1.16 livestock units per hectare.

Source
Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG)

Comment
• Average livestock numbers changed only little between 1999 and 2007, even though they have been tending to increase in recent years.

Yields per area of Switzerland’s seven most important crop plants are also calculated by region, i.e. plains, hills, and mountains. For detailed data, please consult the complete E7 data sheet, which also includes data on the development of livestock numbers by canton.

Wherever land use is intensified, biodiversity tends to suffer. On the other hand, restrained use of fertilizers and pesticides, complemented by small-scale fields and heterogeneous farming, favor biodiversity. It also benefits from lower livestock numbers, as fewer cattle produce less manure, diminishing the soil’s nitrogen burden.

Once new farming methods such as integrated production (1993), proof of ecological performance (1999), organic farming, or extensive cultivation of cereals (1992) were being subsidized, they reduced the use of nutrients, decreasing land use intensity in the process.

Responsible for E7
Meinrad Küttel, meinrad.kuettel@bafu.admin.ch, +41 (0)31 322 93 24

Additional sources of information
> Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture
> Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Federal Research Station