Alpine Farming in Switzerland: Discerning a Lifestyle-Driven Labor Supply

Abstract

This paper deals with the labor supply for alpine farming—a sector in which employees obtain at best seasonal employment and work extremely long hours for very little pay, but nevertheless often return year after year. Based on data obtained from 120 interviews carried out in 2011, we implemented a logistic regression model to discover which factors influence an employee's decision to return to an alpine summer pasture. Results are presented quantitatively, and their interpretation is also supported by a qualitative approach. Our findings indicate that occupational choice in this region is mainly driven by motivational values and quality of infrastructure, with pecuniary benefits playing a marginal role.

Keywords::

• Switzerland
• alpine farming
• occupational choice
• logistic regression

JEL Classification::

• J24
• J28
• J32

Acknowledgements

The project was made possible by the support of the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research which provided the financial contribution. The AlpFUTUR Research Coordination Committee and Pascale Gmür were an important support throughout the course of this project as well as the experts who helped with the questionnaires used in the survey. We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments and critics on earlier versions of the manuscript.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chiara Calabrese

Dr Chiara Calabrese is a Research Associate at the Swiss Federal Office for Statistics in the group of Environmental Economics. After completing the Ph.D. at the ETH Zürich at the Institute for Environmental Decisions, Calabrese worked as a Research Associate in the group of Farm Management of the research Station Agroscope ART.

Stefan Mann

Dr Stefan Mann is the Chair of the Socio-economic Group of the research Station Agroscope ART, in Tänikon (CH), since 2002. He completed his second Ph.D. in 2004 at the University of Greifswald, with a project on “How much management does Nature need?.” In 2001, he obtained his “Habilitation” at the University of Rostock.

Michel Dumondel

Dr Michel Dumondel is since 2000 a Senior Researcher at the ETH Zürich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), Institute for Environmental Decisions. In 1985, he completed his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics, ETHZ (Typologie des communes suisses 1970–1980. Etude dynamique des disparités socio-économiques au niveau local).