BERN - National Council committees spent Thursday on agricultural payments, with the Farmers' Union, retailers and environmental groups in successive chairs. Hill farms want the direct-payment floor defended. Urban Greens want more of the money tied to biodiversity. Retailers want shelf prices that do not rise with every clause.
A farm deputy from Lucerne said feed and diesel had done more damage than any speech in the room. A Geneva deputy said water and soil would not wait for the next reform cycle.
The EU file sits next door
Several speakers dragged in the bilateral food-safety chapter. That is not this week's vote. It is already this year's argument.