About Land & Forst

Land & Forst

Land & Forst, styled LAND & FORST, is a weekly agricultural paper for Lower Saxony, published in Hanover by the dlv Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag GmbH. Its first issue appeared on 1 May 1848 under the title Landwirthschaftliche Zeitung, making it one of the oldest continuously published agricultural journals in Germany. With a sold circulation of around 39,000 copies, it reaches, according to the publisher, more than 170,000 readers weekly and 86.1 percent of agricultural holdings in its distribution area. Its thematic focuses are current developments in crop production and animal husbandry, energy, farm management, agricultural policy at EU, federal and state level, and forestry topics, complemented by a "Leben auf dem Land" section on rural life.

Overview

Land & Forst appears weekly and is aimed primarily at full-time and part-time farms in Lower Saxony, one of Germany's most important agricultural states. The print edition carries the ISSN 1439-3239. IVW figures for the fourth quarter of 2025 record a distributed circulation of 39,490 copies and a sold circulation of 38,954, a strong performance that reflects the paper's entrenched position: in a state where agriculture is economically and culturally central, the weekly paper is part of the professional infrastructure of farming.

The paper's profile is that of a comprehensive agricultural weekly: it covers the agronomic disciplines of crop production and livestock farming, the growing field of agricultural energy, from biogas to photovoltaics and wind power on farms, farm management and business economics, and agricultural policy, from the EU's Common Agricultural Policy to federal and Lower Saxon state politics. Forestry topics address the state's significant forest holdings. Each issue also includes the "Leben auf dem Land" section, devoted to rural everyday life with advice on health, gardening and cooking, broadening the paper's appeal beyond the farm office to the farm household.

The editor-in-chief is Maren Diersing-Espenhorst. The managing directors of the publishing company are named as Christian Schmidt-Hamkens (spokesperson), Günter Betz and Stefan Ortmann. The paper's nickname in Low German, "De Gröne" (the green one), reflects its familiarity and long standing in the region.

History

The history of Land & Forst begins on 1 May 1848, when the first issue appeared as the Landwirthschaftliche Zeitung, in the revolutionary year that also saw the birth of the modern German press. The paper served the farmers of the Kingdom of Hanover, providing agricultural knowledge and market information in an era when scientific agriculture was in its infancy. Through the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, the Nazi era and the post-war period, the paper continued publication, adapting to the changing political and agricultural landscape.

After the Second World War, the publishing house of the Hanover Chamber of Agriculture, founded as the Landbuch Verlag, received a licence on 1 December 1945 to publish the Hannoversche Land- und Forstwirtschaftliche Zeitung. The paper thus resumed its role as the voice of Lower Saxon agriculture in the young Federal Republic. In 1988 the journal Landreport was integrated into Land & Forst. In 1998 the Landbuch Verlag merged with journals in Bavaria and Hesse to form Landleben Verlags GmbH, and in 2001 the Bayerische Landwirtschaftsverlag and Landbuch merged to form the Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag, the dlv, one of Germany's leading agricultural publishers.

The current title, Land & Forst, has been used since issue 51/52 of the 1997 volume, replacing the longer Hannoversche Land- und Forstwirtschaftliche Zeitung. The renaming reflected the paper's modern identity as a weekly for agriculture and forestry, concise and contemporary. Through all these changes, the paper has maintained its weekly rhythm and its Hanover base, serving generations of Lower Saxon farm families.

Content and Sections

Each issue of Land & Forst combines professional agricultural journalism with rural lifestyle content. Crop production coverage addresses variety selection, plant protection, fertilisation, soil management and the economics of arable farming, with trial results and expert advice tailored to Lower Saxon conditions. Animal husbandry coverage spans dairy, beef, pig and poultry production, addressing breeding, feeding, animal health, housing technology and the economics of livestock enterprises.

Energy has become a major theme: many Lower Saxon farms operate biogas plants, photovoltaic installations or wind turbines, and the paper covers the technical, economic and regulatory aspects of agricultural energy production. Management coverage addresses farm business economics, succession planning, labour management and digitalisation. Agricultural policy reporting tracks the decisions that shape farm incomes: the EU's Common Agricultural Policy reforms, federal legislation on animal welfare, fertiliser regulation and plant protection, and Lower Saxon state policy.

Forestry coverage serves the state's forest owners, addressing silviculture, timber markets, forest policy and the challenges of climate change for forests. The "Leben auf dem Land" section provides the household complement: health advice, gardening, cooking and rural culture, making the paper a family publication rather than a purely professional one.

The website landundforst.de extends the print content with top news on crops, livestock, technology and farm management, advice articles, photos and videos, and the paper maintains a YouTube presence with expert interviews from the field, such as the "Vor Ort" series on catch crops and soil management.

Publisher and Organization

Land & Forst is published by the dlv Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag GmbH, based in Hanover. The dlv is one of Germany's leading agricultural publishers, with a portfolio of regional agricultural weeklies, specialist journals and digital media. The company's scale gives Land & Forst access to professional publishing resources while maintaining its regional identity and Hanover editorial office.

The editor-in-chief is Maren Diersing-Espenhorst, and the management includes Christian Schmidt-Hamkens as spokesperson alongside Günter Betz and Stefan Ortmann. The paper's institutional anchoring in Lower Saxon agriculture, historically through the Chamber of Agriculture's publishing house, gives it a quasi-official standing: it is the paper that the state's farmers read, and its reporting on policy and markets carries weight in the agricultural community.

The business model combines subscriptions, newsstand sales and advertising. Advertising clients are the suppliers of the agricultural industry: machinery manufacturers, seed and crop protection companies, animal feed and genetics suppliers, energy technology providers and financial services. The paper's reach, with 86.1 percent of farms in its area according to the publisher, makes it the central advertising medium for the Lower Saxon agricultural market.

Digital Presence

The website landundforst.de is the digital face of the paper, offering top news on plant production, livestock, technology and farm operations, advice content, photos and videos. The site is in German and aimed at the farming audience, with a practical, news-driven design that mirrors the paper's service orientation. The paper also maintains a YouTube channel with field reports and expert interviews, extending its journalism into video through series such as the "Vor Ort" expert talks, which bring agronomists and farmers together on current topics like catch crops and soil management.

The digital strategy complements the weekly print rhythm: the website provides daily updates on markets, weather and policy, while the print issue provides the weekly depth and the household sections that readers keep. For a regional agricultural paper, this combination is the established model: the print edition remains the core product and the primary revenue source, while digital channels extend reach and provide timeliness for time-sensitive information such as market prices and weather warnings. With a publishing history stretching back to 1848, Land & Forst remains what its subtitle claims: the voice of agriculture in Lower Saxony, in print every week for over 175 years and still the paper that the state's farm families open first.