With the summer heat, the strawberry season has finally arrived in Switzerland (no it was not back in February) and you can now find an abundance of fresh red fruit around you. Local strawberries can be found at your normal Coop and Migros supermarkets, but heavily packaged in plastic. To be more sustainable, we’ve put together a list of markets around Switzerland that you could visit at the end of this post.

The first strawberries of the season are picked in early May. Large quantities are expected from June onwards. Thanks to new cultivation methods, domestic production extends into the fall. Currently, about 250,000 kilograms of the sweet fruit are harvested per week. From the second week of June onwards, we expect to see 900,000 kilograms of strawberries per week for about three weeks. Strawberries are cultivated all over the country with major production areas in the cantons Valais, Thurgau and Bern. In the cantons Bern and Zürich, pick-your-own is very common as well.

To understand a bit more the size of the Swiss local strawberry market, they’re planted on 5km2 in Switzerland. The organic share is 7.5 percent. Every year, around 22 million kilograms of strawberries are consumed in Switzerland, of which around 6 million are produced domestically. Per capita consumption is 2.2 kilograms.

About 70% of total strawberry consumption are imported fruit, 90% of which are consumed before the start of the domestic harvest. Imports are increasing enormously since years.

This means that until the end of April, production is exclusively imported. At the national level, this import represents 9 million kilograms of strawberries imported before the start of indigenous production, or nearly 55% of the needs. “At the end of April, half of the strawberries had already been consumed out of all of Swiss annual consumption”, indicates Hubert Zufferey. 

By being patient and waiting for the right season for Strawberries, not only are you guaranteed fresh and tasty products, but you are keeping your carbon footprint in check. This obviously doesn’t just go for strawberries, but for everything you consume. The answer for the easiest and most impactful way you can lower your carbon footprint, lies in the contents of your fridge. We challenge you to go look at the products in your fridge after reading this article… How many products are Swiss? Have many come from halfway across the globe? Did you buy items that came in a lot of plastic packaging?

If every Swiss was to eat climate-friendly 3 times per week, the impact on greenhouse gas emissions would equal 750,000 cars less on Swiss streets. The food choices of the entire Swiss population combined cause enough carbon emissions to fill the Hallenstadion in Zurich 42’000 times. 

By staying in the know and making seasonal and regional food choices we can reduce this impact by more than 50%. You can also check out our seasonal calendar to know when you should be buying in-season produce, and when to avoid buying when it doesn’t come from Switzerland.