Why is agricultural policy not more environmentally ambitious? Comparing failed attempts in Switzerland

Switzerland is a country that has ambitious agri-environmental objectives, but its targets are continuously missed. The paper at hand examines this contradiction by describing and analysing three recent attempts to transform agricultural policies and change the unfortunate situation. The three cases were compared in a qualitative multimethod research design and along dimensions that are potentially relevant for explaining reform failures. While the attempts depicted involved distinctive governance pathways, they all failed to meet their objectives because of the large disadvantages their realisation would have generated. These included, above all, a reduction of the national self-sufficiency rate. It is concluded that the strategy of providing incentives for mere extensification has reached a dead end. New strategies to tackle food consumption patterns appear to be more promising. [Display omitted] •Recent attempts to “green” Swiss agricultural policy have failed, albeit on different levels.•A common reason for failure was an apparent target conflict with self-sufficiency.•Need to shift from national production intensities to broader food policy measures.