Due to climate change, olives could soon be cultivated in Switzerland.
Andreas Drouve/dpa-tmn
Global warming is having a dramatic impact on agriculture. The harvest season is starting earlier and earlier. According to a federal expert, olives could therefore soon be cultivated in Switzerland.
Climate change is already having a dramatic impact on people in Switzerland. Farmers in particular are feeling the consequences in their daily work. For example, harvest time is now starting much earlier than it was just a few decades ago.
This also has an impact on the crops grown in Switzerland, as Pierluigi Calanca, Deputy Head of the Climate and Agriculture Research Group at Agroscope, explains in an interview with SRF.
Accordingly, there is already an initiative in French-speaking Switzerland to plant olive groves. The climate in Switzerland, which is becoming warmer and drier, is “very suitable” for olives. In addition, diseases should not spread as much due to the relatively cool winters, according to the federal expert.
“Bananas could definitely be something”
There are also a whole range of other plants that will become interesting for Switzerland as a result of climate change, such as quinoa and buckwheat varieties. In the interview, Calanca also reports on an experiment in Thurgau to plant bananas, which worked: “Bananas could definitely be something we see more of in Switzerland in the future.”
Overall, climate change has a major impact on agriculture in Switzerland, explains Calanca: “All extreme events affect agriculture and are a challenge for farmers.”