瑞士農民：從保護環境中獲得直接支付

UK farmers will no longer receive subsidies after Brexit but instead get payments for "public goods" such as planting meadows and boosting access to the countryside under proposals from Environment Secretary Michael Gove.

英國脫歐之後，英國農民將不再獲得補貼；根據環境部部長Michael Gove的提議，他們能得到「公共產品」款項，如種植草地、增加進入農村的機會等。

No one is quite sure yet exactly how it will work. But one country, non-EU member Switzerland, already offers its farmers direct payments for looking after the landscape, as the BBC"s Imogen Foulkes reports.

沒人知道這項議題如何發揮作用。但根據英國廣播公司Imogen Foulkes的報道，非歐盟成員國瑞士已經開始向農民直接支付景觀的打理費用。

像溫柏樹這樣的物種並沒有什麼商業價值，卻能為培育者帶來經濟效益。

"We have apple, cherry, and quince," says Fritz Bernhard. "We make juice, and schnapps, but only for ourselves." His farm, located a few kilometres north of the Swiss capital Berne, is benefitting from a direct payments scheme. An orchard of fruit trees, all ancient species, brings much needed income for him and his family. But the fruit itself has no commercial value. Instead Fritz is being paid for biodiversity: these tree species would be extinct in Switzerland if they relied on market forces for their survival.

「我們有蘋果、櫻桃和溫柏樹，」Fritz Bernhard說，「但是我們只為自己做果汁和杜松子酒。」他的農場位於瑞士的首都伯爾尼，因直接支付計劃而受益。果樹園裡的所有古老的物種，為他和他的家人帶來了救急的收入。但水果本身並沒有商業價值。但是，Fritz能得到與生物多樣性有關的款項：因為這些樹種無法僅依靠市場的力量存活。

牛奶價格下跌

Fruit tree cultivation is one of the most common ways for Swiss farmers to boost their income nowadays.

果樹栽培是瑞士農民當前增加收入的最常見方式之一。

On the edge of his land, Fritz has also planted traditional chestnuts; these too command a payment. The European Union currently spends about €59bn (￡51bn; $72bn) every year supporting its farmers.

在地塊邊緣，Fritz還種植了一些傳統的栗子；這些也要求付費。目前，歐盟每年花費約590億歐元（合英鎊510億、美元720億）來支持農民。

對於阿爾卑斯高山地區的農村社區來說，該項計劃顯得至關重要。

Swiss farmers, especially the dairy farmers, are as proud as any others of their ability to produce food. Without them, Switzerland would have starved during World War Two. Post-1945, the Swiss government rewarded its farmers by setting a very generous milk price, and by guaranteeing to buy every kilo of Emmentaler and Gruyère cheese produced.

瑞士農民，特別是奶農，與其他人一樣自豪於自己生產產品的能力。沒有了他們，瑞士在第二次世界大戰期間就會挨餓。1945年以後，瑞士政府通過給牛奶設定相當慷慨的價格對農民進行獎勵，並保證會購買生產出來的每一公斤埃曼塔爾乳酪和瑞士乳酪。

Globalisation forced an end to those policies. In the last 30 years, the price per litre for Swiss milk has dropped by half. Switzerland"s farmers, most of whom work small, geographically difficult plots of land, have felt the chill wind of the global market, and realised they cannot compete.

但是，全球化使得瑞士不得不停止了這些措施。在過去的30年里，瑞士牛奶的價格下降了一半。瑞士的農民大多在地理條件不好的小快土地上勞作，他們感受到了全球市場帶來的風暴，同時也意識到他們無法與之抗爭。

"Costs in Switzerland are very high," explains Beat R??sli of the Swiss Farmers" Union. Nevertheless he points out, no country wants to produce no food at all. "If we want to produce at least a part of the public consumption it"s necessary to have public support of some kind."

瑞士農民聯盟（the Swiss Farmers" Union）的Beat R??sli解釋說：「瑞士現在的成本太高了。」不過，他也指出，「如果我們無論如何都要生產一部分公共消費品，就需要得到某種公眾支持。」

Fritz Bernhard將他的牛肉出售給當地的屠戶，但他仍能因果樹種植獲得報酬。

Under the Swiss scheme, farmers receive payments for looking after the land. "If we maintain a beautiful landscape, we can also request a salary, a certain remuneration for that," explains Mr R??sli. Tourists, he adds, expect to see a cultivated countryside in Switzerland. "If they want to see wilderness they go to Canada, they go to Russia."

根據瑞士的計劃，農民能獲得用於料理土地的款項。「如果我們保持美麗的風景，我們也可以要求支付我們一份薪水、一定的報酬。」R??sli先生解釋道。他說，遊客希望在瑞士能看到的是耕作良好的農村。「如果他們想看荒野，自然就會選擇加拿大和俄羅斯。」

為開創新局面而付費

Protecting the environment on a day-to-day basis is another key pillar of Switzerland"s direct payments system.

Fritz Bernhard"s farm is next to a nature reserve, so an additional income generation for him is to look after it, and to keep its public paths clear.

瑞典直接支付系統的另一個重要支柱就是在日常的基礎上保護環境。Fritz Bernhard的農場毗鄰自然保護區；因此，他的另一份額外收入就是看護自然保護區，並清掃公共道路。

瑞士的傳統形象是整潔的農田和高山風光。

But he does still produce food: not milk like his forebears, but beef, which he sells directly to local butchers, and barley and malt for a local brewery. "We have a mixed farm, very typical in Switzerland now," he says.

Fritz Bernhard仍然在生產食物：只不過與他生產牛奶的祖先不同，他生產的是牛肉；並將牛肉直接買給當地屠夫，將大麥和麥芽賣給當地啤酒廠。他說：「我們有一個混合型農場，這種情況在瑞士非常典型。」

Fritz and his wife Monika derive 70% of their income from food production, and 30% from direct payments. This puts them at the more successful end of the Swiss food production business. But both are worried Switzerland may be getting the balance wrong. Monika has even wondered whether she will end up being paid to put geraniums on her windowsill. "Sometimes I feel we"re being paid to create a fa?ade," she says. "It"s not motivating. I"d like the food we produce to be valued more."

Fritz和他妻子Monika收入的70%來自於糧食生產，30%來自直接支付。這使得他們成為瑞士食品生產業務中更成功的一員。但是他們都擔心瑞士可能會失衡。Monika甚至想知道，是否有一天，她需要付錢才能將天竺葵擺在窗台上。「有時候我覺得是因為我們樹立了一個榜樣，才給我們付錢了」，她說「這並不是激勵。我希望我們生產的食物更有價值。」

富裕國家的慷慨制度

Switzerland"s consumers spend around 6% of their income on food. That is less than their European neighbours, even though their salaries are significantly higher. But other costs make huge inroads into the Swiss pay check - health insurance in particular.

在瑞士，消費者收入的6%被用於食品。相比較與他們的歐洲鄰居來說，瑞士人民薪水高，花費的卻不多。但是其他費用給薪水帶來的衝擊很大——尤其是健康保險。

However much Swiss farmers might want their neighbours to pay more for food, the government seems to have concluded that is not likely. But the direct payments system, now costing over $3bn a year, does have the support of the majority of voters, because of its emphasis on "public goods".

然而，很多瑞士農民可能都希望他們的鄰居能為食物支付更多的錢，可政府卻不這麼認為。每年花費30多億美元的直接支付系統得到了大多數選民的支持，因為它強調「公共產品」。

Bernhard家收入的30%來自於直接支付。

It is, says Mr R??sli, crucial for the survival of rural communities, especially those in the high Alps. "Without it [direct payments] most of the farms today would stop farming, especially those in the mountains" he says. "Today many of the farmers" turnover is 75% direct payments, and only 25% selling products. There is no survival only selling products."

R??sli先生說，直接支付對農村社區的生存來說至關重要，尤其是阿爾卑斯高海拔地區。「如果沒有直接支付，今天的大部分農場都會停止農業生產，尤其是山區農場」，他說，「現在，許多農民75%的營業額來自直接支付，只有25%來自銷售食品；對他們來說，僅銷售食品無法維持生計。」

With the system, Switzerland now produces over half of all the food it eats. But in comparison with what the EU pays in agricultural subsidies, Swiss direct payments actually cost more. The UK"s 200,000-plus farms receive just $3.4bn in subsides. Switzerland"s 50,000 farms get over €2.3bn in direct payments.

有了這個系統，瑞士的食品生產滿足了本國一半以上的需求。但與歐盟在農業補貼方面的支出相比，瑞士的直接支付實際上花費的更多。比如，英國20多萬農場只獲得34億美元的補貼，但瑞士5萬家農場的直接支付額就已經超過了23億歐元。

瑞士計劃將環境保護作為其關鍵要素之一。

So could the Swiss system be a blueprint for UK farmers post-Brexit? Mr R??sli is not sure.

"In Switzerland we"re many people in a small country, we have good jobs, we have high salaries" he points out. "So you see people have money to invest in nice things like landscape. I"m not sure if in Great Britain people are so willing to spend their taxes for these public goods."

那麼，瑞士體系能作為英國脫歐後農民的藍圖嗎？R??sli先生並不確定。

「在瑞士，我們很多人都住在小鄉村裡，都有很好的工作和很高的薪水」，他指出，「所以你就會發現人們有錢投資景觀這樣的東西，我不確定英國人是否願意為這些公共產品繳稅。」

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