If you're taking a walk in rural Switzerland (and France, too for that matter), you'll often come across posted agriculture signs. These signs warn you to not walk across or in any way damage a farmer's crop, to not bother the livestock, to not pick the grapes, etc; these are not simple 'No Trespassing' signs. Unfortunately, incivility is not exclusively an urban problem, it is a rural one as well. These signs are trying to curb some of that. I don't know how effective they are, but at least it's something.
I spotted these two signs on our walk today. The one above is telling you in no uncertain terms and in all caps you are not to walk across the farmer's planted field (the wheat behind this sign was just cut).
This second one (above) is a bit more detailed and I found it interesting. Apparently, what I took to be a weedy patch has purpose. The description states this hedgerow/border/creek does not receive any fertilizer or chemical treatment. Its function says it can be mowed or grazed directly by livestock and that when a farmer is working in a neighboring field, it welcomes the displaced animals with 'open arms' (bras ouverts – how nice!). It goes on to ask how many different spider webs you can see amongst the weeds (mission accomplished – that in itself put me right off). The side panel states the farmer thanks you to not walk across this weedy bit and wishes you a pleasant walk. A softer more ludic approach than the first sign.
Such cool signs! I really like that second one....it's like a fun little game! Not too many signs on fields around here, some No Trespassing in areas that have streams/rivers running through them. And in the winter there'll be signs on fields of planted wheat if a snowmobile trail runs though telling riders to not go off the trail. That's about it.....though maybe they should put signs on the corn crop fields telling the city folk it's not sweet corn. I once had a women get really insulted with me because I told her I wouldn't advise it when she said she was going to just "Grab a few cobs, there's so much, no one would miss it, it would be great to have fresh corn for supper." I just responded with, "Well, the cows sure like it." (:
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