Hubertus Beringmeier new Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Landwirtschafts­verlag Foundation

At its autumn meeting on 21 November, the Board of Trustees of the Landwirtschaftsverlag Foundation elected Hubertus Beringmeier as its new Chairman for the next three years. The 63-year-old President of the Westphalian-Lippe Agricultural Association is also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Landwirtschaftsverlag Münster, to which the Foundation belongs. Beringmeier succeeds Hermann Bimberg, who wishes to hand over his duties at the foundation ‘into younger hands’ after seven years on the Board of Directors and five years on the Board of Trustees.

‘I am looking forward to my new role on the high-calibre Board of Trustees. It is important for the social cohesion of our country that urban and rural areas develop positively. In rural areas in particular, more and more people feel left behind. This is a worrying development. Organisations such as our Landwirtschaftsverlag Foundation promote exemplary initiatives in rural areas and in agriculture that have a lighthouse character and are suitable for strengthening the self-image of people outside the conurbations,’ says Hubertus Beringmeier, outlining the challenges for the future.

‘Over the past 12 years, we have been able to get a lot of things off the ground,’ says Hermann Bimberg, looking back positively on his time in office. ‘We have supported socially, culturally and ecologically orientated projects and we have enhanced the value of building in rural areas with the Landbaukultur Award, which is now well established in the architecture scene.’ In addition to these projects, the foundation is also committed to preserving cultural heritage. With 6,500 volumes, the ‘Westphalian Library of Agriculture’ is the most comprehensive collection of practice-orientated agricultural literature from the past five centuries in north-west Germany. Many of the books in the collection are rare and valuable, some are even unique and cannot be found in any other library catalogue.

‘The third pillar of the foundation's activities is its commitment to Münster and in particular to the Hiltrup district, where the publishing house and foundation are based. Here, the foundation has worked with the Protestant Church and the social welfare organisation Diakonie to improve daycare provision and the opportunities for independent living in old age,’ explains the previous Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

The Board of Trustees elected Franz-Josef Holzenkamp, President of the German Raiffeisen Association, to replace Hermann Bimberg, who is stepping down. The Board of Trustees now consists of the following eight members:

• Hubertus Beringmeier, Hubertus, President of the Westfälisch-Lippischer Landwirtschaftsverband (Chairman)
• Michael Radau, Chairman of the Board of SuperBioMarkt AG (Deputy Chairman)
• Petra Bentkämper, President of the German Rural Women's Association
• Dr Martin Berges, State Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Consumer Protection of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
• Katharina Borchert, founder and digital entrepreneur
• Franz-Josef Holzenkamp, President of the German Raiffeisen Association
• Hubertus Paetow, President of the German Agricultural Society
• Susanne Schulze Bockeloh, Director of the Westphalian Landscape Foundation and Vice President of the German Farmers' Association

Further information about the foundation and Landwirtschaftsverlag can be found at www.LV.deand www.stiftung-lv-muenster.de.