Competitiveness of cattle breeding in Switzerland: the value of policies enabling informed decisions

Abstract

Using the case of of Swiss Brown Cattle breeding, this paper develops the hypothesis that a two-angle strategy of fostering competition and providing maximum access to information is promising for states to attain high competitiveness on a national level. Abandoning the monopoly on bull sperm while subsidising classifications of animals in order to provide a maximum base of knowledge helped to increase Switzerland’s self-sufficiency in Brown Cattle sperm from under 50 to almost 100 per cent.