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Shepherd Fabrice Gex guides the flock over the stone switchbacks of the Aletsch Valley, after more than three months alone with them in the mountains. Shepherding is not a profitable business in the Swiss Alps. Eighty percent of Alpine farm income comes from government subsidies, largely for the environmental services that the sheep, cows, and goats provide, particularly grazing that keeps alpine meadows from turning into forest. This enables the locals to maintain traditional lifeways. Not to mention covering the cost of bringing shepherds into the backcountry by helicopter

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Shepherd Fabrice Gex guides the flock over the stone switchbacks of the Aletsch Valley, after more than three months alone with them in the mountains. Shepherding is not a profitable business in the Swiss Alps. Eighty percent of Alpine farm income comes from government subsidies, largely for the environmental services that the sheep, cows, and goats provide, particularly grazing that keeps alpine meadows from turning into forest. This enables the locals to maintain traditional lifeways. Not to mention covering the cost of bringing shepherds into the backcountry by helicopter

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