German farmers' association

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
German Farmers Association
(DBV)
logo
legal form registered association
founding 1948
Seat Berlin
main emphasis Agriculture
people Joachim Rukwied (President), Bernhard Krüsken (General Secretary)
Members 285,000 (2019)
Website www.bauernverband.de
Old logo

The German Farmers' Association ( DBV ) is the largest agricultural professional body in the Federal Republic of Germany . It is the umbrella organization of the 18 state farmers' associations, which call themselves Landvolk in Lower Saxony and "Agricultural Association" in North Rhine-Westphalia and Bremen.

history

Development of organized associations before the foundation of the DBV

Until the First World War

While organized structures emerged in the first two thirds of the 19th century to represent the interests of industry and - on the basis of the guilds  - crafts, associations of farmers developed only slowly. Although the farmers were the most important branch of the economy at the time, some of which were publicly owned via the state domains , a common representation of the interests of the farmers was made difficult by the different organizational structures, agricultural constitutions and the economic size of the farms and the resulting different living conditions. The mentality of the farmers and their dependence on the landowning nobility and the church made it difficult for innovations and the willingness to take risks to enter the farming profession. The economic societies that formed in many places in the following decades , beginning with the “Thuringian Economic Society of Weissensee ”, were associations of the privileged class of aristocratic landowners who were organized there together with scientists and administrative officials. Practical farmers were not represented.

After the liberation of the peasants , a new wave of organization of farmers began with the agricultural associations that were being formed. Beginning in 1810 with the “Agricultural Association for Bavaria”, they were founded in various places in most of the German states in the following decades.

Agricultural associations
year number
1820 15th
1830 45
1841 176
1860 541
1870 865

The associations only came into being with state participation and financial support, although the level of organization of the farmers with a total of 40,000 members remained low in the 1850s. They were mostly closely intertwined with state agricultural administrations. From the middle of the century this association was further strengthened and the associations, as an “institutionalized professional association”, had functions similar to those of the chambers of crafts . In contrast to the economic societies, the associations were also formed away from the residential and administrative cities. They consisted of domain administrators and state officials mostly in leading positions, but there were also local dignitaries such as pastors and teachers as well as the lower nobility as leading members. In the 19th century, more and more practical farmers entered, even if these were mostly only the owners of larger farms. The aim of the clubs was to exchange experiences in production-related innovations. This was desired by the state in order not to make the differences in interests between the nobility and the peasantry visible. Ultimately, the association of the state and agriculture as well as the claim to leadership of the bureaucracy in the agricultural modernization process established.

From 1837 on, a peasant association movement was formed before the German Revolution . Based on the "Congress of Members of German Agricultural Associations" in November 1848 in Frankfurt, the latter also tried to exert political influence on the national level. At the same time, associations of large landowners were formed, who fought for the preservation of feudal rights . The free farmers' associations differed greatly from the previous agricultural associations. They were not run by civil servants, but mostly by medium to large farmers. With the political demands for a definitive abolition of the old agrarian constitution , approaches of a modern interest representation developed for the first time. The movement was particularly successful thanks to the “Westphalian Farmers' Association” founded by Burghard von Schorlemer-Alst in 1862 . This was considered a role model, especially in the Catholic areas in western and southern Germany. Members were mainly Catholic middle and large farmers, while tenants, small farmers and Protestant Christians remained underrepresented in the associations. One of the most important concerns of the associations was Christian social policy.

In the German Empire there were three different stages of development in the recording, formulation and representation of agricultural interests. By the last decade of the 19th century a well-developed agricultural association system and the farmer's association movement with a large number of members had developed, but neither of which could represent political interests. Due to the fact that Otto von Bismarck always took agricultural interests into account, not only in his protective tariff policy, for example , only under his successor Leo von Caprivi through his change in trade policy with the facilitation of foreign agricultural imports did a crisis arise with falling revenues for agriculture. As a result, the Federation of Farmers was founded in 1893 . According to Hans-Peter Ullmann , he was the type of a “ pressure group ” that had never existed before in the German Empire.

  • Agricultural associations: In Prussia there were 2175 agricultural associations with almost 220,000 members in 1895. Nevertheless, this corresponded to only a small proportion of those working in agriculture and they were mainly managed by state employees. Despite this personal integration, they remained free associations and no sovereign tasks were assigned to them. That is why the Chambers of Agriculture were founded. On the one hand, these were organs of indirect state administration and agricultural promotion and, on the other hand, were supposed to represent agricultural interests vis-à-vis the bureaucracy. They ousted the central agricultural associations, while there was intensive cooperation between chambers and associations at the local level, which ensured a “noiseless agricultural policy” in the German Empire.
Members of farmers' associations
year number
1893 85,000
1901 200,000
1907 350,000
  • Farmers 'associations: Most of the farmers' associations (except for the Westphalian in 1862 and the Bavarian in 1898) were founded during the Kulturkampf . Despite the impressive growth in membership, they remained politically insignificant for a long time. This contributed to the fact that there was no supra-local union for a long time. The "Association of Christian German Farmers' Associations", founded in 1900 by 17 associations, had been joined by ten other associations by 1906. The umbrella organization remained without its own president and without a permanent office. In terms of self-image, the associations remained rather apolitical, since their proximity to the Center Party, due to its heterogeneous composition, never allowed it to become an agricultural representation, and Christian educational work remained an essential part of the association's work. The associations made an essential contribution to the development of the agricultural cooperative system .
  • Federation of Farmers (BdL): The Federation quickly developed into an association with a large number of members and a powerful administration. He ran regional sales and purchasing cooperatives and published several newspapers and magazines. He organized propaganda and protest events. His aim was to preserve the previous influence of agriculture in the state and to stop the political and economic loss of importance of agriculture that was foreseeable as a result of industrialization. In the changing spectrum of parties in the first decade of the 20th century, the federal government successfully managed to move away from notorious parties to mass parties in organizing MPs for itself. In 1908 243 of 442 members of the Prussian state parliament were committed to the BdL. With the customs tariff of the Bülow government , which revised the trade policy change under Caprivi , he achieved his greatest political success in setting the course for "agricultural policy in the industrialized state". Since this protectionist policy benefited all farmers - regardless of the size of the farm - it also strengthened the association internally.

Weimar Republic and the time of National Socialism

Since the beginning of the First World War, the importance of agriculture and its organizations in political perception had lagged more and more behind the importance of industry, the armaments industry and their associations. At the same time, the wishes of the consumers were given higher priority than those of the producers. The November Revolution did not change the property relations and the social structure in the country, but with the abolition of the monarchy the influence of the East Elbe large agrarians disappeared and the entire politics and administration were less open to the wishes from the ranks of the agricultural associations. The BdL was in a crisis at the time and the representation of interests remained fragmented. The parliamentarization, with increased influence of the social democrats and also the trade unions, further contributed to the loss of importance of agricultural interests behind those of the consumers and led agricultural associations to take a strict course of confrontation with the Weimar system.

The "War Committee of German Agriculture", founded in 1917 and later renamed the Reich Committee with the participation of all agricultural associations and organizations, remained at the status of a loose coordination point and never became a focal point towards a holistic umbrella organization.

The National Rural League , bedeutendster association of German agriculture in the Weimar Republic, was in Nazi Germany , along with other farmers' associations in the Reich "brought into line" . In the aryanization of Jewish assets in agriculture and forestry, the district farmers in particular played an active role and claimed a decisive role in the selection of applicants. NSDAP members in particular were given preference, and they also radically depressed the purchase price. The Reichsnährstand survived the German defeat in 1945 and was continued until 1948 in order not to further worsen the supply situation. On August 17, 1948, the German Farmers' Association was founded as the umbrella organization and professional representation of agriculture and forestry.

organization

The German Farmers' Association has the legal form of a registered association based in the House of Agriculture and Food in Berlin. The Andreas Hermes Academy , previously in the Röttgen district of Bonn , has moved from the former conference building to an office building in Bad Godesberg. Another office is located in Brussels. The German Farmers' Association has three organs: the General Assembly, the Presidium and the President. Its youth and youth organization is the "Federation of German Rural Youth".

There is no individual membership in the German Farmers' Association. It is an association of associations; In addition to the state farmers' associations, there are a large number of associated members.

The individual farmers, in turn, are organized in the state farmers' associations. These achieve a very high level of organization (on average over 80 percent of all around 370,000 agricultural holdings). The structure of the state farmers' associations is based on grassroots democracy, with elections starting at the local level and leading through the district and district level to the state level, where only those who hold an electoral office at the previous levels can be elected. The farmers' association offers its members a range of services, especially through the district offices, which are attractive to smaller farmers, for example advice on social security issues as well as tax matters and legal problems.

Association activity

Once a year the German Farmers' Association publishes the "Situation Report - Trends and Facts on Agriculture" . It represents the economic development of agricultural holdings. The analysis of the economic situation in German agriculture is based on over 2,000 annual financial statements from full-time and part-time agricultural businesses as well as partnerships and agricultural cooperatives. The publisher is the German Farmers' Association in cooperation with Land-Data GmbH (software manufacturer for agricultural accounting statements), ZMP GmbH and information.medien.agrar e. V. (ima) as well as the support of the Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank .

The report has appeared in various forms since around 1988 and is intended to be a counterpart to the federal government's agricultural report .

President of the German Farmers' Association since 1946

Honorary President Sonnleitner 2019

The President is at the head of the German Farmers' Association . Since 1946 (between 1946 and 1948 as chairman of the Working Group of German Farmers' Associations ) the following persons held this office:

1946-1954 Andreas Hermes
1954-1959 a three-person executive presidential college:
1959-1969 Edmund Rehwinkel
1969-1997 Constantin Heereman von Zuydtwyck (Honorary President since 1997)
1997-2012 Gerd Sonnleitner (Honorary President since 2012)
since 2012 Joachim Rukwied

The president of the farmers' association Joachim Rukwied cultivates 290 hectares.

Vice President of the German Farmers' Association since 1946

1991-1996 Ernst Geprägs , on behalf of Friedrich Wilhelm Schnitzler
Norbert Schindler
2006-2016 Udo Folgart
since 2012 Werner Schwarz
since 2006 Werner Hilse
since 2015 Walter Heidl
Wolfgang Vogel
since 2018 Karsten Schmal

The vice-presidents manage: Ernst Geprägs around 40 hectares, Friedrich Wilhelm Schnitzler 30 hectares, Werner Hilse around 300 hectares, Werner Schwarz 400 hectares, Norbert Schindler 316 hectares and Udo Folgart 932 hectares.

General secretaries of the German Farmers' Association since 1947

(Between 1947 and 1948 as general manager of the Working Group of German Farmers' Associations.)

1947-1966 Johannes Hummel
1966-1975 Heinz Möws
1976-1991 Rudolf Schnieders
1991-2013 Helmut Born
Since 2013 Bernhard Krüsken

criticism

The farmers' association had succeeded in acting as the sole professional representative for agriculture for well over 50 years. In addition, there were only a few smaller associations, such as the Working Group on Rural Agriculture (AbL), which represented rural and ecological businesses. The Federal Association of German Dairy Farmers (BDM) had by its own account in 2008 about 34,000 members in 2014 those numbers have fallen by more than a third. The main point of criticism of the BDM is that the farmers' association does not represent the dairy farms adequately and therefore they cannot achieve cost-covering milk prices . In the wake of the milk strike, this criticism led to public termination of membership in the district farmers' associations subordinate to the DBV.

From the organizers of the demonstration, “ We are fed up with it! “, Which calls for an agricultural turnaround, the farmers' association is accused of wrong orientation. In a study published in 2019, which was written by the University of Bremen on behalf of the Naturschutzbund Deutschland , a total of 560 connections and several network hubs in Berlin and Brussels were found. This enabled the farmers' association to strengthen the possibilities for action in industrial agriculture as a whole.

In a comment, the Süddeutsche Zeitung criticized the farmers' association for promoting export-oriented agriculture in Germany and thus ensuring overproduction and dumping prices. The farmers' association was "mainly" to blame for the misery of its members and had "maneuvered them straight into the crisis with its growth strategy".

Romuald Schaber , chairman of the Federal Association of German Dairy Farmers, criticizes the fact that the farmers' association was not founded from the outset to represent the interests of farmers, but rather as a unified association to ensure nutrition after the Second World War. The not only common interests of the dairy industry association, contractors and seed producers were not only bundled, but also mixed. Over the years, a “ felt ” had emerged which had solidified through the accumulation of offices. He denies officials who are also on the supervisory board of dairies from being able to stand up for milk producers. He also criticized (as an Allgäuer) the one-sided political orientation towards the CSU .

Der Spiegel criticized the close alliance between DBV and the Agriculture Ministers, who have been provided by the CSU since 2005. The association has "a pathologically ramified network, the tentacles of which extend into the important levels and centers of power". The then Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner said to a member of parliament: "I do everything the farmers' association wants".

Criticism comes in particular from various environmental associations. For example, Gerd Sonnleitner (2001 winner) and Joachim Rukwied (2017 winner), two presidents of the German Farmers' Association, have already been awarded the environmental negative Dinosaur of the Year award from the German Nature Conservation Union.

Despite the major changes in the agricultural sector, the German Farmers' Union was able to maintain its position, and even oppositional movements could not change its supremacy. This stability is due to the fear of many farmers of further damage to their reputation and loss of status, but not due to unity within the association. The interests of the economically strong large companies predominate here, and conflicts of interest are suppressed.

Members

Ordinary members are 18 state farmers' associations. Around 90 percent of the nearly 300,000 farmers in Germany are voluntarily, depending on the structure of the regional association, either directly members of a regional farmers' association or in a legally independent district farmers' association, which in turn belongs to a regional farmers' association. In addition to the state farmers 'associations as full members of the German farmers' association, there are the Bund der Deutschen Landjugend , the German Raiffeisenverband and the federal association of former agricultural college graduates. The number of associated members is significantly larger:

These agriculture- related associations also have voting rights at delegate assemblies at federal level.

The German Farmers' Association itself is a member of the European Movement Network . Through its membership in COPA , the working group of farmers 'associations in the EU, the DBV represents the German farmers' interests towards the institutions of the European Union. The COPA sees itself as the central organization for all agriculture.

literature

  • P. Ackermann: The German farmers' association in the political power play of the Federal Republic: The influence of the DBV on the decision on the European grain price. Mohr, Tübingen 1970, ISBN 978-3-16-830211-7 .
  • Rolf G. Heinze: Association policy between particular interests and common good - The German farmers' association. Bertelsmann Stiftung publishing house, Gütersloh 1992, ISBN 978-3-89204-061-3 .
  • Eckehard Niemann: The agrobusiness network of interests. In: Thomas Leif, Rudolf Speth (Ed.): The silent power. Lobbyism in Germany. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 3-531-14132-5 , pp. 186-212.
  • Dieter Wolf: German Farmers' Association: Influence and Compliance with Law. In: Annette Zimmer, Bernhard Weßels (Hrsg.): Associations and Democracy in Germany. Civic engagement and nonprofit sector. Volume 5. Leske + Budrich Verlag, 2001, ISBN 3-8100-2957-2 .
  • Rudolf Schnieders, Elisabeth Hintze: The German Farmers' Association in the Political and Economic Environment - 1945 to 2008 -. German Farmers' Association, Andreas Hermes Academy, Bonn / Berlin 2009.
  • Wolfgang Hoffmann: The thousand arms of the farmers' associations . In: Die Zeit , No. 3/2001.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans-Peter Ullmann : Associations in the agricultural sector: Economic societies, agricultural associations and farmers' association movement in interest groups in Germany (Edition Suhrkamp; Volume 283: New historical library). Suhrkamp Verlag, 1988, ISBN 3-518-11283-X , pp. 31-33.
  2. ↑ Hans-Peter Ullmann : Associations in the agricultural sector: Economic societies, agricultural associations and farmers' association movement , pp. 34–36.
  3. ↑ Hans-Peter Ullmann : Associations in the agricultural sector: Economic societies, agricultural associations and farmers' association movement , pp. 36–40.
  4. ↑ Hans-Peter Ullmann : The mobilization of agricultural interests: Founding and politics of the “Federation of Farmers” in interest groups in Germany (Edition Suhrkamp; Volume 283: New historical library). Suhrkamp Verlag, 1988, ISBN 3-518-11283-X , pp. 84-86.
  5. ↑ Hans-Peter Ullmann : The Mobilization of Agrarian Interests: Founding and Politics of the “Federation of Farmers” , pp. 87/88.
  6. ↑ Hans-Peter Ullmann : The Mobilization of Agrarian Interests: Founding and Politics of the “Bund der Landwirte” , pp. 89-94.
  7. ↑ Hans-Peter Ullmann : Disintegration and reorganization of the agricultural associations: From the “Bund der Landwirte” to the “Green Front” in interest groups in Germany (Edition Suhrkamp; Volume 283: New historical library). Suhrkamp Verlag, 1988, ISBN 3-518-11283-X , pp. 144/145.
  8. ↑ Angela Verse-Herrmann: The "Aryanizations" in agriculture and forestry 1938–1942. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 978-3-515-06895-6 , p. 82 f.
  9. ^ Website for the situation report of the German Farmers' Association .
  10. ↑ Arguments: Trends and facts on the economic situation in German agriculture published by the German Farmers' Association from 1988. ISSN  0939-0235 .
  11. ↑ a b Gerd Sonnleitner is DBV Honorary President. ( Memento of the original from July 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. agrarheute.com, June 29, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.agrarheute.com
  12. ^ Rukwied elected farmers president. German Farmers' Association, press release from June 27, 2012.
  13. ^ President and Board of Directors. Retrieved January 29, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Transcript of a panorama article from April 26, 2013 (PDF; 99 kB).
  15. ^ Stephan Börnecke: Unrest at the base - wave of exit from the farmers' association. In: Frankfurter Rundschau of July 28, 2008, online at FR-online.de, accessed on January 4, 2017.
  16. ↑ "We are fed up with agricultural industry": Demonstrators called for a system change. In: TopAgrar from January 19, 2013, online at topagrar.com, accessed January 4, 2017.
  17. ↑ Study reveals lobby network of the German Farmers' Association. In: nabu.de . April 29, 2019, accessed May 18, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Silvia Liebrich: Farmers are heading towards self-made crisis. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung of October 11, 2015, online at sueddeutsche.de, accessed on January 4, 2017.
  19. ↑ Romuald Schaber: Blood milk - How the farmers fight for survival. Pattloch Verlag, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-629-02273-8 , pp. 52-53.
  20. ^ Antonia Schaefer, Michaela Schießl: cracks in the wagon castle . In: Der Spiegel . No. 4 , 2018, p. 64-66 ( online ).
  21. ↑ a b Who will be the dinosaur of the year? - Since 1993, NABU has been awarding Germany's most embarrassing environmental prize , NABU, accessed on December 5, 2018
  22. ↑ Blockers and pullers at the expense of the environment - Farmers' Association President Joachim Rukwied is “Dinosaur of the Year 2017” , NABU, accessed on December 5, 2018
  23. ^ Rolf G. Heinze, Helmut Voelzkow: The German farmers' association in the field of tension between economy and ecology . In: K. Hagedorn, F. Isermeyer, D. Rost, A. Weber (eds.): Social demands on agriculture. Writings of the Society for Economic and Social Sciences of Agriculture eV Volume 30 . Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster-Hiltrup 1993.
  24. ^ German farmers 'association: State farmers' associations .