The Röstigraben in agriculture: tractor density only increases in part of Switzerland – Switzerland

Mountain townships catch up

A completely different picture in German-speaking Switzerland. In the canton of Bern, for example, in 1990, 21,938 tractors were still authorized for road traffic. Last year, it was already 26-594. An increase of 15%. Almost the same development in Aargau. Here, the number of tractors rose from 9921 to 11,294. Power plus 14 percent. The curve in Zurich was even steeper: the number of tractors rose from 11,685 (1990) to 13,393 last year, an increase of 21%. The only exception in German-speaking Switzerland: in Basel-Stadt, where there are hardly any farms, the number of tractors rose from 115 to 90 over the last 27 years

Conversely, the percentage of traders is much more important in Welschen than in German-speaking Switzerland. , as evidenced by the displacement of vehicles registered in the cantons.

And the highest growth of tractors has been recorded by the mountain cantons: Uri and Glarus have more than doubled their fleet of tractors since 1990. Ob- und Nidwalden, Graubünden and Appenzell Innerrhoden each increased by more than 80%.

The experts have no clear explanation for the trench Rösti trench. Sandra Helfenstein, spokeswoman of the Swiss Farmers Association, says that there are more pure arable farms in western Switzerland without breeding. "To survive without animals, a business needs a bigger area." As a result, companies in Western Switzerland are bigger.If two companies merge, some of the existing machines are usually sold or not replaced. "Another explanation could be, according to the farmers' spokesperson," that farmers tend to keep their old tractors in German-speaking Switzerland or in German-speaking Switzerland "

Roman Engeler, editor-in-chief of the magazine "Schweizer Landtechnik", says spontaneously: "As in French-speaking Switzerland, farms are on average larger, I imagine that old tractors tend to be completely decommissioned and sold, but a newer technology, larger and proportionally more expensive is used. "The fact that the small mountain cantons have a particularly strong growth of tractors is probably related to the In recent years, favored by the increase in direct payments, more and more motorized vehicles purchased.

Legendary Tractor Density

If we compare the number of tractors to the permanent resident population, the Canton of Appenzell inland Rhodes. Out of 19 inhabitants comes here one of these Zugvehikel. There are not many fewer tractors per person in the Jura and Thurgau. At the other end of the spectrum, Basel-City is at a great distance: here, one of the 90 registered tractors comes to 2145 inhabitants.