B1 · Intermediate
11 min
foodpoliticsenvironmenthistory
Ten Million People and a Shrinking Pasture
Diez millones y las vacas
Swiss voters rejected a referendum yesterday that would have capped the country's population at ten million by 2050. Behind the demographic debate was something most coverage missed entirely: Swiss agricultural land, its cheese, its cows, and a national obsession with feeding itself.
Los votantes suizos rechazaron ayer una iniciativa para limitar la población del país a diez millones de habitantes en 2050. Detrás del debate demográfico hay algo que pocos mencionaron: la tierra agrícola suiza, su queso, sus vacas y una obsesión nacional con producir comida propia.
5 essential B1-level terms from this episode, with translations and example sentences in Spanish.
| Spanish | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| la transhumancia | transhumance; the seasonal movement of livestock between pastures | La transhumancia es una tradición muy antigua en los países con montañas. |
| el suelo fértil | fertile soil | Perdimos mucho suelo fértil cuando construimos las nuevas urbanizaciones. |
| los subsidios | subsidies | El gobierno paga subsidios grandes a los agricultores para proteger la comida local. |
| depender de | to depend on | Durante la guerra, Suiza no podía depender de las importaciones de comida. |
| la biodiversidad | biodiversity | Los agricultores suizos reciben dinero para proteger la biodiversidad en sus tierras. |
Yesterday Switzerland held a referendum, and the headline everyone ran with was 'population cap rejected.' But when I dug into what was actually driving that vote, I kept landing in the same place: food.
Sí, es verdad.
Yes, that's true.
Los suizos votaron sobre cuántas personas pueden vivir en su país, pero el problema más profundo era la tierra.
The Swiss voted on how many people can live in their country, but the deeper issue was land.
Suiza tiene muy poco espacio para cultivar comida.
Switzerland has very little space to grow food.
Right.
And for people outside Europe, Switzerland might sound like this enormous alpine country, but the actual farmable land is a small fraction of the total territory.
Exacto.
Exactly.
La mayoría del territorio suizo son montañas, bosques y lagos.
Most of Swiss territory is mountains, forests, and lakes.
Solo el diez por ciento de la tierra es buena para la agricultura.
Only ten percent of the land is good for agriculture.
Por eso los suizos protegen esa tierra con leyes muy estrictas.
That's why the Swiss protect that land with very strict laws.
And the argument from people who backed this initiative was essentially: more people means more houses, more roads, more concrete, and that means less farmland.
That's the chain they were worried about.
Sí, pero los votantes dijeron que no.
Yes, but voters said no.
El sesenta y tres por ciento votó en contra.
Sixty-three percent voted against it.
Muchos pensaron que la iniciativa era demasiado extrema, porque limitar la población también significa limitar la inmigración.
Many thought the initiative was too extreme, because capping the population also means capping immigration.
Which is politically loaded in Switzerland right now, because something like a third of the country's workforce is foreign-born, and that includes a lot of the people actually working the farms.
Eso es irónico, ¿no?
That's ironic, isn't it?
La gente quería proteger la tierra agrícola suiza, pero los trabajadores que cuidan esa tierra muchas veces son inmigrantes.
People wanted to protect Swiss agricultural land, but the workers who tend that land are often immigrants.
Si limitas la inmigración, puedes tener un problema diferente.
If you limit immigration, you might have a different problem entirely.
Octavio, give me some history here.
Switzerland's relationship with its own food supply, with self-sufficiency, where does that come from?
Viene de las dos guerras mundiales.
It comes from the two world wars.
Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Suiza estaba rodeada por países en conflicto.
During the Second World War, Switzerland was surrounded by countries at war.
No podía importar comida fácilmente.
It couldn't import food easily.
Entonces el gobierno creó un programa para cultivar más dentro del país.
So the government created a program to grow more food inside the country.
The Anbauschlacht.
The 'cultivation battle.' They literally plowed up golf courses and public parks to grow potatoes.
Sí, exactamente.
Yes, exactly.
Y esa experiencia fue muy importante para los suizos.
And that experience was very important for the Swiss.
Después de la guerra, el país decidió que nunca más quería depender completamente de otros países para comer.
After the war, the country decided it never wanted to depend completely on other countries for food again.
Esa idea todavía existe hoy.
That idea still exists today.
And it's written into law.
Switzerland has constitutional protections for agricultural land, which is something I don't think a lot of people realize.
You can't just buy a farm and build condos on it.
Es correcto.
That's right.
Desde 1979, la constitución suiza protege la tierra agrícola.
Since 1979, the Swiss constitution protects agricultural land.
Hay leyes muy específicas sobre qué puedes construir y qué no.
There are very specific laws about what you can build and what you can't.
En muchos países de Europa no existe esa protección tan fuerte.
In many European countries, that kind of strong protection doesn't exist.
Spain included, I'd imagine.
En España tenemos un problema grande con esto.
In Spain we have a big problem with this.
Muchas tierras agrícolas cerca de las ciudades se convirtieron en urbanizaciones durante los años noventa y dos mil.
A lot of agricultural land near cities was turned into housing developments during the nineties and two thousands.
Perdimos mucho suelo fértil para siempre.
We lost a lot of fertile soil forever.
That's a wound that doesn't heal.
Once you pave over good farmland, you're not getting it back on any human timescale.
Exacto.
Exactly.
Y los suizos lo saben.
And the Swiss know it.
Por eso muchos ciudadanos, incluso los que votaron en contra de la iniciativa, entienden la preocupación.
That's why many citizens, even those who voted against the initiative, understand the concern.
El problema no era el objetivo, era la solución.
The problem wasn't the goal, it was the solution.
Let's talk about what Swiss food actually looks like, because I think this is where the story gets really interesting.
What does a country with ten percent farmable land actually produce?
Pues lo más famoso es el queso y la leche.
Well, the most famous are cheese and milk.
Las vacas suizas son muy importantes.
Swiss cows are very important.
Suiza produce más de ciento ochenta variedades de queso.
Switzerland produces more than a hundred and eighty varieties of cheese.
El Gruyère, el Emmental, el Appenzeller.
Gruyère, Emmental, Appenzeller.
Son quesos con mucha historia.
These are cheeses with a lot of history.
And those cows are up in the alpine meadows, the 'alp' that gave the region its name.
They're literally eating grass at altitude, which is why the milk tastes the way it does.
Sí, y en Suiza tienen una palabra para este proceso: transhumancia.
Yes, and in Switzerland they have a word for this process: transhumance.
En verano, los agricultores llevan las vacas a las montañas.
In summer, farmers take the cows up to the mountains.
En invierno, las bajan.
In winter, they bring them back down.
Es una tradición de siglos.
It's a centuries-old tradition.
I've seen those processions.
The cows with the giant bells around their necks coming down through the villages in autumn.
It's one of those things that sounds like a tourist postcard until you actually see it.
Y esa tradición conecta directamente con el debate político de ayer.
And that tradition connects directly to yesterday's political debate.
Si Suiza tiene más personas, necesita más casas.
If Switzerland has more people, it needs more houses.
Más casas en los valles significa menos espacio para las vacas en invierno.
More houses in the valleys means less space for the cows in winter.
El ciclo se rompe.
The cycle breaks.
There's also the water angle.
Switzerland is called the water tower of Europe, all those glaciers feeding the Rhine, the Rhône, the Po, rivers that irrigate farmland across most of the continent.
Eso es muy importante.
That's very important.
El problema es que los glaciares suizos están desapareciendo rápido.
The problem is that Swiss glaciers are disappearing fast.
En cien años, muchos glaciares perdieron más de la mitad de su tamaño.
In one hundred years, many glaciers lost more than half their size.
Cuando el agua de los glaciares desaparece, la agricultura en toda Europa tiene un problema.
When the glacier water disappears, agriculture across all of Europe has a problem.
And this is what I kept thinking about reading the referendum coverage.
Everyone wrote it as an immigration story, a demographics story.
But it's also a food systems story, a water story, a land story.
Los periodistas siempre buscan el conflicto político más simple.
Journalists always look for the simplest political conflict.
Pero la realidad es más compleja.
But reality is more complex.
En Suiza, la comida y la identidad nacional están muy conectadas.
In Switzerland, food and national identity are very closely connected.
El queso no es solo un producto.
Cheese isn't just a product.
Es parte de lo que significa ser suizo.
It's part of what it means to be Swiss.
That's true of a lot of countries, but Switzerland makes it unusually explicit.
They have what they call the 'agricultural article' in their constitution, which says the government must ensure a reliable food supply.
It's a legal obligation.
Y por eso Suiza paga subsidios muy grandes a sus agricultores.
And that's why Switzerland pays very large subsidies to its farmers.
No solo para producir comida, sino también para mantener el paisaje, proteger la biodiversidad y conservar las tradiciones rurales.
Not just to produce food, but also to maintain the landscape, protect biodiversity, and preserve rural traditions.
Es un sistema diferente al de otros países.
It's a different system from other countries.
Enormously expensive, though.
Swiss food is among the most expensive in the world, partly because those subsidies get passed through in complicated ways, and partly because the land constraints mean you can't achieve the economies of scale that industrial farming depends on.
Sí, pero muchos suizos piensan que es un precio justo.
Yes, but many Swiss people think it's a fair price.
Prefieren pagar más por la comida local que depender de importaciones baratas.
They prefer to pay more for local food than to depend on cheap imports.
Esa mentalidad viene directamente de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, como dijimos antes.
That mentality comes directly from the Second World War, as we said earlier.
I was covering a story in Geneva about fifteen years ago, a trade dispute, and I remember being genuinely startled by the price of a sandwich.
I stood there doing the mental conversion and then just accepted it.
Era un buen sándwich, ¿no?
It was a good sandwich, right?
En serio, la calidad de los productos básicos en Suiza es muy alta.
In all seriousness, the quality of basic products in Switzerland is very high.
La leche, el pan, los quesos.
Milk, bread, cheeses.
Cuando los ingredientes son buenos, el precio tiene sentido.
When the ingredients are good, the price makes sense.
It was an exceptional sandwich.
That's the thing that gets you.
You pay three times what you'd pay anywhere else and then you're annoyed because it was actually worth it.
Ese es el problema de Suiza para los turistas.
That's Switzerland's problem for tourists.
Llegas, ves los precios, piensas que es una exageración, y después comes y entiendes todo.
You arrive, you see the prices, you think it's ridiculous, and then you eat and you understand everything.
Es difícil volver a los quesos baratos después de eso.
It's hard to go back to cheap cheeses after that.
So where does this leave the referendum result?
The initiative failed, but the underlying tension between population growth, land use, and food security, that doesn't disappear because sixty-three percent voted no.
No, el problema continúa.
No, the problem continues.
Suiza creció mucho en los últimos veinte años.
Switzerland grew a lot in the last twenty years.
En 2000, el país tenía siete millones de personas.
In 2000, the country had seven million people.
Ahora tiene casi nueve millones.
Now it has almost nine million.
Si sigue así, llega a diez millones antes de 2040.
If it continues like this, it reaches ten million before 2040.
And the initiative was trying to prevent that, but the mechanism it proposed, a hard cap, is legally complicated because of Switzerland's agreements with the European Union on free movement.
That's partly why it lost so decisively.
Exacto.
Exactly.
Para los suizos, las relaciones con Europa son muy importantes, también para la economía y para la comida.
For the Swiss, relations with Europe are very important, also for the economy and for food.
Suiza importa muchos productos del exterior, especialmente frutas y verduras que no puede producir en su clima.
Switzerland imports many products from abroad, especially fruits and vegetables that it can't produce in its climate.
So they're in this interesting position: fiercely protective of their own agricultural land and food identity, but also dependent on open borders and trade to actually feed everyone.
The vote was partly about not wanting to destabilize that balance.
Y creo que esa es la lección más importante para otros países.
And I think that's the most important lesson for other countries.
La seguridad alimentaria no es solo producir tu propia comida.
Food security isn't just producing your own food.
También es tener buenas relaciones con tus vecinos.
It's also having good relationships with your neighbors.
Los dos son necesarios.
Both are necessary.
There was a phrase Octavio used earlier that I want to come back to.
He used the word 'transhumancia' for the seasonal movement of livestock, and I think that's worth sitting with for a second.
Sí, 'transhumancia'.
Yes, 'transhumancia'.
Es una palabra interesante.
It's an interesting word.
Viene del latín: 'trans' significa 'a través de' y 'humus' significa 'tierra'.
It comes from Latin: 'trans' means 'across' and 'humus' means 'earth' or 'ground'.
Entonces es literalmente 'moverse a través de la tierra'.
So it literally means 'moving across the land'.
And 'humus' is also where we get 'humble', because humble originally meant close to the ground.
Same root as the dip you eat with pita bread, which is a separate rabbit hole entirely.
Fletcher, siempre encuentras la conexión con la comida.
Fletcher, you always find the connection back to food.
Pero tienes razón, es la misma raíz.
But you're right, it's the same root.
En español, 'humilde' y 'humano' también vienen de 'humus'.
In Spanish, 'humilde' and 'humano' also come from 'humus'.
Somos tierra que camina.
We are earth that walks.
Earth that walks and argues about cheese.
That's us.
Good episode.