Understanding the Heterogeneity of Swiss Alpine Summer Farms for Tailored Agricultural Policies: A Typology

Abstract

Understanding the heterogeneity of agricultural production systems is important both for the design of targeted and tailored policies and for providing effective extension services. In Switzerland, seasonal grazing of alpine pastures during summer is important for many farms, but also for biodiversity conservation. However, these so-called alpine summer farms are threatened by water scarcity due to climate change, the lack of skilled labor, and human–wolf conflict, resulting in the abandonment of farms and loss of biodiversity. Swiss agricultural policies govern alpine summer farms with uniform policy interventions through direct payments to address these challenges. However, these farms are highly heterogeneous in terms of socioeconomic and biophysical conditions, and we lack an understanding of their structure. We investigate the heterogeneous structure of Swiss alpine summer farms by using census data (N = 5900) and a mixed-methods approach combining unsupervised clustering techniques and expert assessment to generate a farm typology. Our methodological approach enriches the existing socioeconomic farm-level data with spatial data to depict the farms' infrastructure and biophysical environment. Our results suggest 6 types that differ in terms of organizational structure, herd composition, biophysical environment, and accessibility: (1) private dairy farms; (2) communal mixed cattle and dairy farms; (3) communal cattle farms; (4) remote farms; (5) small, private cattle farms; and (6) sheep farms. We also anticipate challenges for each cluster and discuss optimization and policy measures. This will help develop targeted policies tailored to specific alpine farm types, addressing both climate and farm structural change.