A brief portrait of the Chamber of Agriculture Lower Saxony

Farmers and forest owners, agricultural, horticultural and forest entrepreneur, countrywomen, employers and employees in all green professions, all have an interest to work with the Chamber of Agriculture Lower Saxony as an actor in the rural areas of Lower Saxony and Europe. Our topics of the Chamber are the life, work and training of people in agriculture, forestry and horticulture in rural areas.

The Chamber of Agriculture Lower Saxony...
… is an area-wide organisation – always close to its members.
… is professionally competent, neutral and independent.
… puts the concept of self-government into daily practice through the links between head offices and honorary offices.
 

The Chamber of Agriculture has responsibility over about 2.6 million hectares of agricultural land and about 500,000 hectares of private woodland. There are about 50,000 enterprises in agriculture and forestry that form the membership and customer base of the Chamber.
The Chamber also has responsibility for more than 4,000 horticultural enterprises and 50,000 private woodland owners, as well as about 130 mixed coastal and small deep-sea fisheries, 50 inland fisheries and about 150 aquaculture enterprises.
As the body officially responsible for agriculture and ‘public interests’, the Chamber works closely with municipalities and districts and represents the professional interests of farmers.

Figure 1: Area and offices, Chamber of Agriculture in Lower Saxony
            - All Offices you will find in our contact-manager -
 

The Chamber of Agriculture Lower Saxony – championing the land!

The tasks
The tasks of the Chamber are wide-ranging, including advice, financial support and professional training.
The advisory service is more than just individual consultations on the farm, it also includes a research establishment which is unique in the country, as well as a service for market analysis and the provision of agricultural market reports.
Through further and professional education and training, the Chamber offers over 500 seminars each year, and in addition, masters courses and other professional qualifications. There are also conferences, presentation events and field trips. The Chamber is commissioned by the federal state to be the competent authority with respect to more than 50 laws, regulations and programmes.
In addition, the Chamber is itself a training authority. Over twenty trainees come each year to learn the basics of seven professional qualifications.
 

The organisation
In the Chamber of Agriculture, honorary, elected representatives of professions and full-time professionals work closely together. The highest decision-making body of the Chamber is the Chamber Assembly. It is reconstituted every six years.
Two-thirds of the total of 168 honorary members are agricultural entrepreneurs and the rest are employed in agriculture and forestry. Every three years, they elect a president and the members of the board.

- You will find a detail organisation-chart at the bottom of this page -
 

The finances
The Chamber of Agriculture is financed through charges and other incomes (49 %), income from the Chamber contribution from enterprises required to pay this (14 %) and payments from the federal state of Lower Saxony (37 %).

If you would lilke to know more on our projects, work, transnational work, feel free to contact us.