Growing Cereals Grains
Swiss farmers cultivate a variety of food and feed grains. Wheat, rye and dinkel are cultivated as food grains, while barley, oats, triticale (a cross-breed between wheat and rye) and maize are grown for feed. Wheat cultivation covers an area of almost 100,000 hectares and is the unrivalled number one among cereals. Barley and grain maize come in second and third.
The areas under cereal grain production have been expanding for a long time, and yields have drastically increased, thanks to better varieties and technical progress. Eventually, the amount produced was more than what the market could absorb and process, so food grain gained use as a feed grain. The Swiss government has tried to reverse this trend by implementing various measures. Farmers who use less fertiliser on their crops, thus obtaining a smaller yield, are compensated. The environmentally-produced food grain resulting from this method is called ‘extensive’ cereal. Additionally, farmers receive a bonus if they cultivate feed grain instead of food quality grain, easing the pressure on the food grain market. Barley is the most important feed grain and is cultivated on more than 50,000 hectares.
Cereal grains provide humans as well as animals with essential nutrients. Soft wheat, dinkel and rye provide flour which is used to produce bread, cake and pastries. Durum wheat, although not cultivated in Switzerland, is used to produce pasta. Oats serve as a food for humans (e.g. rolled oats), as well as for animal fodder.
