Erna Lechner

Erna Lechner (* 1940 ) is a Bavarian farmer. From 1997 she was a district farmer in Upper Bavaria for the Bavarian Farmers' Association . When she retired, she was made an honorary district farmer.

Lechner was born the oldest of four children and grew up in the Friedberg district . She left home at the age of 17 and worked as a housekeeper in the UK and Sweden for over a year. Upon her return she visited in Ebersberg the agricultural school and trained for agricultural housekeeper. She then worked in various positions. Finally, in 1971, she married the farmer Josef Lechner, whom she had met at an alumni ball , and settled in Niclasreuth (municipality of Aßling ).

In addition to running his own farm, Lechner began to volunteer for social issues. In 1974 she founded a youth center in Niclasreuth. She was chairwoman of the women's group of the Association of Agricultural College Graduates, honorary judge at the tax court and worked in the farmers' association initially as a district farmer and from 1997 as an Upper Bavarian district farmer. Together with her husband, she also trained around 30 apprentices. After her husband suffered a stroke, Lechner passed the farm on to one of her two daughters. But she herself remained active in the youth center she founded.

In recognition of her special civic engagement, the Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber awarded her the Bavarian Order of Merit on July 5, 2006 .

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• Stephanie Ahr: The model farmer , in: Süddeutsche Zeitung, July 8, 2006