Grand Marais (german: Grosses Moos) in Seeland is a region in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, at the foot of the first mountain range of the

Jura Mountains The Jura Mountains ( , , , ; french: Massif du Jura; german: Juragebirge; it, Massiccio del Giura, rm, Montagnas da Jura) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the Frenc ...

contained by the three lakes of Morat (Murten),

Neuchâtel , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (France), ...

and Bienne (Biel). Before the huge hydrological works Jura water correction, it was a

marshland A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

that covered . Before the correction the entire Grand Marais, along with the whole of Seeland was prone to very severe recurring floods. After the Jura water correction, the former marshland has become very valuable

agricultural land Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other organism, forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous ...

and made the whole area the most important region in Switzerland for growing

vegetables Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...

. The main town and centre of vegetable trading is

Müntschemier Müntschemier (french: Monsmier) is a municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Müntschemier is first mentioned in 1185 as ''Munchimur''. The earliest traces of a settlement in the a ...

. There are two

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

s with surrounding agricultural compounds: Bellechasse (

Witzwil The Justizvollzugsanstalt Witzwil (Prison Witzwil) is a men's prison in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. It consists of a closed part and a number of minimum security habitation units. The prisoners work on the institution's huge farm estate on t ...

) and St. Johannsen.

External links

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Anstalt Massnahmezentrum St. Johannsen

ETH-UNS Case Study «Perspektive Grosses Moos – Wege zu einer nachhaltigen Landwirtschaft»
{{Coord, 46, 58, 39, N, 7, 06, 36, E, region:CH-BE/CH-FR_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title Geography of Switzerland