Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft BLW

What Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft BLW does

The Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft BLW (Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture) is the federal agency of Switzerland responsible for national agricultural policy, headquartered in Bern under the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (WBF). Its mandate is to ensure sustainable, market-oriented agricultural production and food security for the Swiss population through a multifunctional agricultural and food economy. It administers direct payments to farmers, manages import/export permits for agricultural products, oversees plant breeding and variety testing through Agroscope, and coordinates with all 26 cantonal agricultural and veterinary offices for policy implementation.

BLW's core technology portfolio is built around the Agate online portal (agate.ch), a single-login gateway integrating over 20 specialized applications spanning the agricultural value chain — including TVD (animal movement database), HODUFLU (nutrient management), LAWIS (water protection), dbmilch (milk data), ASAN (animal health and food safety), ALVPH (veterinary data warehouse), and digiFLUX (plant protection). More recent additions include the BLW Data Portal (data.blw.admin.ch) for centralized analytics and agridata.ch, a decentralized data exchange service that enables secure, controlled data sharing across the Swiss agricultural and food sector with digital self-determination principles for farmers. The agency is undergoing a transition from CH-LOGIN to AGOV, Switzerland's unified password-free government authentication system, by end of 2026.

BLW operates as a publicly funded government agency with no commercial revenue stream. Its operations are financed through the Swiss federal budget, and services such as the Agate portal, direct payments administration, import/export permits, and data portal access are provided free of charge. Strategic direction is anchored in the AP30+ agricultural policy framework and the Zukunftsbild 2050 (Vision 2050) long-term outlook, targeting at least 50% self-sufficiency by 2050, a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels, and a 50% increase in labor productivity from 2020. Key partners include Agroscope (research), BLV (food safety/veterinary), BAFU (environment), BAZG (customs), Identitas AG (TVD operations), and the agridata.ch consortium spanning cantons, administration, and industry.

Name

Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft BLW

Legal name

Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft BLW

Website

https://blw.admin.ch

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Switzerland's Federal Office for Agriculture, a federal government agency headquartered in Bern that implements national agricultural policy, administers direct payments to farmers, and operates digital agricultural infrastructure (Agate portal, agridata.ch) serving Swiss farmers, 26 cantonal offices, and the food sector.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Policy Administration

NAICS

Farm Management Services (115116), Regulation of Agricultural Marketing and Commodities (92614)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Farm Data Platforms, Integration & APIs (Interoperability/Middleware) (AFAAAFAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Farm Finance, Input Procurement & Risk Tools (Budgeting, Inventory, Insurance Links) (AFAAAFAO), Supplier Approval, Verification & Food Safety Risk Management (GFSI-aligned) (AFALADAH)

Keywords

• Agricultural policy administration
• Direct payment services
• Agricultural data systems
• Farm registration services
• Import export permits

Headquarters

HQ city

Bern

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Budget Funding: The BLW is a Swiss federal government agency funded through the federal budget. Its operations are financed by public funds allocated by the Swiss Parliament and Federal Council. No commercial revenue is generated.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

The BLW administers Swiss national agricultural policy and provides integrated digital agricultural services to farmers, cantonal offices, and the food sector. Its core offerings include direct payment administration, import/export permit issuance, plant breeding program funding via Agroscope, and operation of the Agate online portal integrating 20+ agricultural applications. It also runs agridata.ch for secure cross-sector data exchange and the BLW Data Portal for agricultural statistics and analyses.

Product overview

Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft BLW (Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture) operates primarily as a government agency managing agricultural policy rather than a traditional product company. Its main technological offering is the Agate Portal, a unified gateway providing single sign-on access to over 25 agricultural applications and systems in the Swiss agricultural ecosystem. Key applications include ASAN (cantonal veterinary operations), ALVPH (veterinary data warehouse), TVD (animal movement database), HODUFLU (fertilizer transport), digiFLUX (plant protection), dbmilch (milk data), and Traubenpass (vineyard registry). Recent products include the BLW Data Portal (data.blw.admin.ch) for agricultural data analytics and agridata.ch for secure cross-organizational data exchange. The DigiAgriFoodCH transformation program aims to digitize the sector through data interoperability. Most applications are operated in collaboration with partner agencies (BLV, BAFU, BAZG) or external organizations (Identitas). The portfolio follows a platform-plus-modules architecture centered on Agate for access management, supplemented by specialized applications for different agricultural domains.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Agate Portal (agate.ch) The Agate portal is the online gateway for Swiss agriculture, providing single sign-on access to all agricultural applications and systems along the food chain. It enables farmers, livestock owners, and administrators to file direct payment requests, manage nutrient transfers, update the animal movement database, access milk data, and share agricultural data with third parties such as labels.
• ASAN Application used by cantonal veterinary offices for daily operations in animal health, animal welfare, food safety, and veterinary medicinal products. Enables processing of reported issues, issuing of measures, evaluation of authorization requests, document creation and storage, and mass management of similar cases such as animal disease control.
• ALVPH Data Warehouse ALVPH (Auswertung/Analyse, Lebensmittelsicherheit, Veterinärwesen, Public Health) is the data warehouse of the Swiss veterinary service, serving as a central data platform enabling flexible queries, standard reporting, and statistical evaluations across multiple data sources with graphical functions for data presentation.
• BLW Data Portal (data.blw.admin.ch) The BLW data portal provides data and analyses on Swiss agriculture and food economy as a central hub for stakeholders including researchers, industry organizations, and the public.
• agridata.ch A data transmission service that enables secure and controlled data exchange in the Swiss agricultural and food sector while enabling digital self-determination for farmers. Features a decentralized data space for standardized data exchange along the value chain, with data remaining stored with the original data holder.
• digiFLUX System for plant protection products and nutrients management in Swiss agriculture. Supports the administration and tracking of plant protection products with support provided through Jira Service Management.
• HODUFLU Application for managing farm and recycling fertilizer transport, tracking the incoming and outgoing transport of nutrients such as manure and compost across farms.
• TVD (Tierverkehrsdatenbank) Swiss animal movement database for recording livestock movement data when animals are added to or removed from a holding. Central registration of all livestock movements in Switzerland.
• Taxas Consumer tax platform for mineral oil tax refunds, operated by the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG). Used in collaboration with BLW for agricultural mineral oil tax refund processing.
• FaBe-PSM (Fachbewilligung Pflanzenschutzmittel) System for professional authorization of plant protection product use, providing specialist pesticide authorizations. Operated by BAFU and integrated with BLW's plant protection administration.
• dbmilch (Milchdatenplattform) Milk data platform providing milk quantity and quality data for farm management, supporting dairy farm operations and agricultural statistics.
• Agroscope Plant Breeding Programs Public breeding programs for arable crops (wheat, soy), fodder plants, medicinal and aromatic plants, and specialty crops (apple, pear, apricot, grapes), managed by Agroscope research institution under BLW oversight.

Quantifiable outcome

• Swiss agricultural policy aims for at least 50% self-sufficiency rate by 2050, with 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels and 50% increase in labor productivity from 2020 baseline
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• AgroscopecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Agroscope is the Swiss federal agricultural research institution. The BLW funds and oversees Agroscope's research in plant breeding, variety testing, plant protection, and sustainable agriculture. Agroscope conducts public breeding programs for wheat, soy, fodder plants, medicinal/aromatic plants, apple, pear, apricot, and grapes. The BLW provides additional funding of 3.5 million CHF annually for plant breeding and variety testing, and 1 million CHF annually for plant protection research.
• Bundesamt für Lebensmittelsicherheit und Veterinärwesen (BLV)coreTechnology or IntegrationThe BLV is a partner in shared agricultural data systems. ALVPH (data warehouse of the veterinary service) and ASAN (animal health and food safety management) are integrated with BLW systems. The BLV also manages pesticide authorization under the Pflanzenschutzmittelverordnung.
• 26 Cantonal Agricultural and Veterinary OfficescoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAll 26 Swiss cantons have agricultural offices and veterinary services that serve as the primary administrative touchpoints for farmers. These cantonal offices implement federal agricultural policy, administer direct payments, manage TVD animal registrations, and collect agricultural data on behalf of the BLW.
• agridata.ch ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development Partneragridata.ch is jointly developed with partners from administration, cantons, and industry. The platform enables secure data exchange across the Swiss agricultural and food sector, won Gold at the Best of Swiss Web Award 2026 in Innovation. It is developed as a contribution to a modern, cooperative, and user-oriented digitalization of the Swiss agricultural and food sector.
• DigiAgriFoodCH Transformation Program PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDigiAgriFoodCH is a national digitalization transformation program for the Swiss agricultural and food sector. The communication platform digiagrifood.ch is open to all sector actors and aims to promote knowledge in digitalization. Partners include cantonal administrations, industry associations, and research institutions.
• ETH ZürichminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerETH Zürich collaborates with BLW on plant breeding research, including knowledge and technology transfer into Swiss breeding programs. ETH was involved in the neutron oscillation physics research published in Physical Review Letters.
• FiBL (Forschungsinstitut für Biologischen Landbau)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFiBL (Research Institute for Organic Farming) collaborates with BLW on plant breeding strategies and studies on economic, environmental, and health costs of the Swiss food system under the Vision 2050 scenario analysis.
• Empa (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEmpa researchers collaborated on a study published in Nature Communications on recycling fossil fuel infrastructure for the energy transition. The BLW website published this Empa research as part of news coverage on sustainability topics.
• AGOV / eIAM (Swiss Government Identity Management)coreTechnology or IntegrationAGOV is Switzerland's unified government login system, replacing CH-LOGIN across all federal agencies. BLW's Agate portal integrates AGOV as the authentication layer, providing password-free login via smartphone app or FIDO2 security key. Managed by the Federal Office for Information Technology and Telecommunications (FIT-U) under the eIAM verbund.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• FiBL (Forschungsinstitut für Biologischen Landbau): FiBL is the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, which collaborates with BLW on plant breeding strategies and Swiss food system cost studies (Vision 2050). It serves as an adjacent research counterpart, providing organic and sustainability research capacity that complements Agroscope.
• Agroscope: Agroscope is the Swiss federal agricultural research institute under BLW's purview, conducting plant breeding, variety testing, and sustainability research. It is the primary research arm executing BLW's breeding and plant protection funding programs, including the CHF 3.5M + 1M annual allocations.
• Identitas AG: Identitas AG is the Swiss federal IT operator that runs TVD, RiBeS, and FaBe-PSM on behalf of BLW and partner agencies. It is the closest operational technology counterpart to BLW's digital platform functions, though as a contracted operator rather than a policy body.

Broad incumbents

• DEFRA (UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs): DEFRA is the UK government department responsible for environmental protection, food production, and rural affairs. It is comparable to BLW in national-scope agricultural policy delivery, including farm support schemes and digital data initiatives following the UK's departure from the CAP.
• USDA (United States Department of Agriculture): USDA is the US federal executive department responsible for agricultural policy, farm support programs, and rural development. It is the most direct analogue to BLW at a larger national scale, administering direct payments, conservation programs, and data systems across the entire US agricultural sector.
• European Commission DG AGRI: DG AGRI manages the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), including direct payments to farmers, market measures, and rural development across EU member states. It shares BLW's mandate of administering direct payments and agricultural policy at a continental scale, and interacts with BLW on bilateral Swiss-EU agricultural matters.
• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC): AAFC is the Canadian federal department responsible for agricultural policy, farm income stabilization, and research. It parallels BLW in delivering direct support programs to farmers, conducting agricultural research, and publishing sector data, with comparable population-scale operations.
• Ministère de l'Agriculture et de la Souveraineté alimentaire (France): The French Ministry of Agriculture oversees French agricultural policy, CAP implementation, and farm support at a national level. It shares BLW's regulatory mandate for direct payments, plant protection, and food security, while also operating at a much larger agricultural scale.
• Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft (BMEL, Germany): Germany's federal ministry for food and agriculture sets national agricultural policy and EU CAP implementation for Germany. It is structurally analogous to BLW, with direct payments administration, plant breeding oversight, and digital farm data initiatives, but operates at a larger national scale.

Regional players

• Ministerie van Landbouw, Visserij, Voedselzekerheid en Natuur (Netherlands): The Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature oversees Dutch agricultural policy and EU CAP implementation. It is comparable in regulatory mandate and digital farm data initiatives (notably the Dutch 'RVO' digital systems), though serving a different national market than Switzerland.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CHblw
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@bundesamtfurlandwirtschaft5413
• Facebookfacebook.com/CHblw
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/federal-office-for-agriculture
• Instagraminstagram.com/blw_ofag_ufag

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft BLW