Les paiements directs, instrument central de la politique agricole suisse

The factors exerting an influence on the recent development of Swiss agriculture are rapidly changing. Some of the main factors of change initiated by the new agricultural policy are the following : (i) Guiding agricultural production thanks to the rehabilitation of the rules of the market, (ii) Giving up of the price policy (guaranteed, high prices as sole remuneration for agricultural activities). (iii) Increasing importance of direct payments, especially for awarding environmental prestations. The article stresses the quick and considerable increase in direct payments which are the result of the government's determined policy in this transitional phase of Switzerland's agriculture. However, it is important to analyse the direct payments in an economic perspective. These direct payments are only justified if the polluter-payer principle cannot be applied and if market-external benefits for the society are not paid for by the market mechanism, neither locally, nor nationally, nor internationally.