Lucerne - May 2010

“www.drachenried.ch” is a marketing cooperative for innovative, homemade agriculturally products, joined together from farmers of the region Drachenried in the canton Nidwalden. The DEMOCHANGE-partners from Lucerne met the head of the cooperative and several local farmers to discuss the influence of the demographic change on their lives.

On the 25th of May, the first swiss focus group of DEMOCHANGE, existing of several local farmers, met up in Ennetmoos, Nidwalden. Röbi Furger, the initiator of the marketing platform www.drachenried.ch, is also member of the steering group of DEMOCHANGE in Nidwalden. The meeting was moderated by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences (School of Social Work). The participants discussed and examined different points of the demographic change, like threats and risks as well as opportunities and potentials - especially related to the field of agriculture and rural areas. Under discussion with those local farmers, several new and important inputs for the further procedure of the DEMOCHANGE project in Nidwalden had been gathered.

The current demographic situation

The evening was opened and moderated by Sabine Binder from the Lucerne University of Applied Science. First of all, the contents and structures of DEMOCHANGE were explained and Sabine Binder presented the results of the data analysis from the canton of Nidwalden. This canton near Lucerne is surrounded by the lake of Lucerne in the north and the mountains in the south. It has a population of appox. 40.000 inhabitants and is still growing out of a positive birth rate and a serious number of international and national migration.

Threats and risks - but opportunities emerge as well

Even though, the population is getting older and the demographic structure is changing. The economy is mainly based on small and medium sized enterprises, in which agriculture is still playing an important role. In the discussion about threats and risks of the demographic change, the farmers examined aspects like the loss of land area due to the growing settlement area and the rising costs for infrastructure such as school, public transportation and medical care. But also the further existence of small shops (such as post, supermarket) in remote areas of the canton has been seen critically. The farmers pointed out the opportunities and potentials and developed first ideas to benefit from the demographic change and the aging society. Ideas such as voluntary work on farms for elderly persons up to assisted living on a farm, but also mobile supply with food has been mentioned. All the input from this meeting and of the upcoming focus groups will be taken into account at the second workshop of the steering group for the DEMOCHANGE project in the model region of Nidwalden.

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