Agricultural Office

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An agricultural office is a lower administrative authority for the subject or legal areas of agriculture, landscape and soil culture. Set up as cultural offices in the Weimar Republic , they played a major role in the eastern regions of the German Empire and in the Wartheland . There were still cultural offices in the young Federal Republic of Germany .

tasks

Depending on the state , the agricultural offices are independent lower state authorities (e.g. in Thuringia) or affiliated to the administrative districts (e.g. in Baden-Württemberg). They ensure the timely disbursement of non-investment funds from the EU , the federal government and the state . The agricultural policy goal of the work of the agricultural offices is the preservation of the cultural landscape through extensive land cultivation. As carriers of public interests, they represent the interests of agriculture when agricultural land is used. They perform tasks of the pesticide and fertilizer law (including the fertilizer law , the plant protection law ), the seed law and, in some countries, parts of the real estate law (GrdstVG), the agricultural structure improvement law (ASVG) and the land lease law (LPachtVG).

Baden-Württemberg

Until January 1, 2005, the agricultural offices were state authorities until the major administrative reform. Since this reform, the agricultural offices have been integrated into the 35 district offices. The superordinate authority is the regional council . The agricultural offices advise the farms and farming families in the respective district area in the following areas:

  • Corporate governance
  • Securing the livelihood of families
  • Structural development
  • Environmentally friendly plant production
  • Environmentally and species-appropriate animal husbandry and feeding
  • Tourism and direct marketing

The agricultural offices in Baden-Württemberg support the farming families in applying for compensation payments and ensure that the non-investment funds from the EU , the federal government and the state are paid out on time . They support agricultural investment projects with grants and low-interest loans in individual farms for resource-saving plant production and animal-friendly husbandry and the improvement of the marketing structure.

The agricultural offices authorize the sale of agricultural or forestry areas, as well as the granting of usufruct of such areas (§ 3 (2) ASVG). The sale of land on which the farm or a farm building of the agricultural or forestry operation is located or which can be used for agriculture and forestry and is at least 1 hectare in size, in the case of horticultural production or viticulture is at least 0.5 hectare in size (§ 1 ( 1) ASVG). Approval must be applied for, which in practice is carried out by the notary certifying the purchase of the property . The application must be notified within two months (Section 28 (1) ASVG). The approval is to be denied in particular if the sale would mean an "unhealthy distribution of the land", which is particularly the case "if the sale contradicts measures to improve the agricultural structure" (§ 7 ASVG) or if it means an independent agricultural worker Operation "would lose its viability" or an agricultural plot of land smaller than two hectares , a plot of land used for horticultural production or viticulture smaller than half a hectare or a forestry plot of land smaller than 3.5 hectares. If approval is not required for a sale, the Agricultural Office must issue a negative certificate (Section 5 ASVG).

In addition, agricultural offices provide consumer education for a healthy diet through regional products for the population in the district.

In addition, a wide range of advisory and qualification services are offered, such as through technical schools for agriculture (master craftsman's examination), advising trainees for the profession of farmer, or the training of civil servants for the higher agricultural engineering service.

Bavaria

In Bavaria the 47 agricultural offices are the lower administrative authorities of the state in the portfolio of the Bavarian State Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Forests . The authorities designated as offices for food, agriculture and forestry are responsible for one or more rural districts or urban districts.

Thuringia

In Thuringia, the agricultural offices of the state's lower administrative authorities are part of the Thuringian Ministry of Agriculture, Forests, Environment and Nature Conservation . In addition to the implementation of the above-mentioned legal areas, the main tasks are the promotion of agricultural tourism, the development of rural areas, advice on securing livelihoods, registration of agricultural and horticultural companies, promotion of older agricultural workers and educational tasks.

There are seven agricultural offices in Thuringia, each of which is responsible for several districts or independent cities: