Causes and impacts of the mis-representation of agricultural policy—The case of food supply security payments in Switzerland

Although the supply situation of the Swiss population is sufficient in terms of food security, contributions to security of food supply have been made since 2014 as part of the country’s current agricultural policy. Amounting to around CHF 1.17 billion, such contributions account for more than a third of Switzerland’s total direct payments budget. The effectiveness and the efficiency of this policy in terms of both calorie production and income transfer were analysed. With the help of an agent-based model approach, the extent to which the achievement of targets is guaranteed in the long term was examined. Possible gains in efficiency become visible alongside a stepwise reduction in the levels of the contributions. If the current policy is continued, Switzerland will barely achieve its actual operationalised calorie production targets. A focus on demand during times of supply shortages and a stronger focus on maintaining production factors could release the resources necessary to close existing gaps in relation to meeting targets. With an income ratio of about 0.3, the payments have a high income transfer effect and, therefore, make a major contribution to securing agricultural income. This fact is not evident in either the formulation of targets or the labelling of the policy. The present study contributes to the discussion concerning the possible reasons and likely impacts for the mislabelling of this policy measure.