Swiss Stories

Data provided by the pedometer attached to the halter enables the behaviour of cows to be monitored on a tablet. ©Agroscope, Gabriela Brändle

Swiss Agriculture 4.0

Economics
Smart farming: digitalisation is about to revolutionise farming in Switzerland
Lugernsee

Swiss public transport: a masterpiece of innovation

Environment
Travelling by public transport in Switzerland is easy and convenient. Trains, buses, boats and mountain railways whisk passengers to their destination swiftly, on time and in style. Switzerland's public transport system has literally blazed a trail marked by improvements and innovations and is now among the best in the world.
Agroscope's rice cultivation trial in Schwadernau in the northern part of the canton of Bern © Kathrin Hartmann

Innovative Swiss agriculture

Environment
Will rice, soya beans and sweet potatoes – which originated in Asia and the Americas – become normal Swiss crops in the future? Valued for their adaptability to climate change and nutritional qualities and also as a potential source of diversification, these crops have in fact begun to be grown in parts of Switzerland and could be much more widely cultivated in the future.
© Photo: Fabian Biasio.

A Swiss chef cooks up the forest

Environment
'Wizard of Entlebuch' Stefan Wiesner cooks with stone, earth, ash, wood – and ants.
Geraldine Maras au World Chocolate Master

The Queen of Swiss Chocolate

Society
For Géraldine Mueller-Maras, it's all a matter of taste: a taste for the finer things, a taste for travel and a taste for pushing the limits. And she needed all these qualities and more to be crowned Swiss Chocolate Master in 2015 and the highest-ranking woman at the 2015 World Chocolate Masters in Paris.
Val Poschiavo - Lago Saoseo

The Swiss valley on the verge of becoming 100% organic

Environment
Val Poschiavo in the canton of Graubünden is a global pioneer of organic farming. The people there have been cultivating the land this way for about 30 years and are aiming to be 100% organic within the next two years.
FREITAG © FREITAG/fluxif.com

Freitag: recycling with style

Economics
In the mid-1990s, two brothers from Zurich reinvented the bag, using recycled tarpaulins from lorries. Some 27 years and a string of innovative products later, FREITAG stores have sprung up in Berlin, Tokyo and many other cities, employing over 250 staff and drawing enthusiasts from around the world. What is FREITAG's recipe for success? Good ideas that capture the spirit of the age are naturally part of the equation, as is a holistic approach. The result is Swiss, environmentally friendly and uniquely recognisable around the world. An interview with Daniel Freitag at his office in Oerlikon.