December 9

For our mountains. For our farmers.

18 working places more or less ... so what? – you might think. But for a little mountain village, which is threatened by migration, each working place is most valuable. The entire future of a mountain region may depend on securing the livelihood of the farming families. Coop with the product labelling «Pro Montagna» looks after this.

With the label «Pro Montagna» Coop promotes local trade, supports maintaining of added value in mountain regions and at the same time cares for the cultural landscape. In contrast to other so called mountain promotion schemes where only the raw material originates from the mountain regions the Pro Montagna products are also processed there.

Secure working places and create new ones
Bernegger raviolis from the pasta factory in Ulrichen were among the first Pro Montagna products. They are primarily produced from Bio-Gran alpine grain, from Bio-Ricotta cheese and regional mountain herbs. «I always knew that they taste good», said Mr. Bernegger «But only when Coop joined, also the rest of Switzerland learned it.» In the meanwhile 20 persons work in Bernegger's pasta factory and the production line has been newly eqipped for some ten thousand francs.
>> More on Pro Montagna

Coop sponsorship programme for mountain regions
The range of products counts more than 90 today. It ranges from dairy and meat products, to delicious mountain herb pasta and pretty wooden toys. At each purchase a contribution is given to Coop sponsorship for mountain regions. The Non-Profit-Organisation exists since more than 65 years – in 2007 Pro Montagna paid over 335'000 francs to the Coop sponsorship programme. As Coop pays all administrative costs of the programme, each contribution reaches the mountain farmers entirely.
>> More on the Coop sponsorship programme for mountain regions
>> How can I help?