The sum is an item in the supplementary budget and still has to be decided in the state parliament

Apprenticeships in agriculture are becoming increasingly difficult to fill, although the Brandenburg State Farmers‘ Association sees immense future opportunities. „You have to come up with a lot of ideas to find offspring,“ said Heiko Terno, chairman of the education association at the Brandenburg State Farmers‘ Association, the German press agency.

In the agricultural sector, numerous managers at all levels would retire in the coming years. „The places have to be filled so that the company can continue to run smoothly,“ said Terno.

In Brandenburg, 387 apprentices started their training in one of the so-called green professions last year: they want to become farmers or animal farmers, agricultural service specialists, gardeners, milk technologists or housekeepers. It was 20 more than in 2017. But the demand is not being met and is greater, said Terno. The farms competed for the trainees with the economy, where higher apprentice salaries were advertised.

If necessary, lateral entrants could also drive a tractor, said Terno. „But running a business is a different class.“ The saying that only one lesson in agriculture remains in the case of bad grades in the certificate has long since ceased to be true. All paths are open to good trainees. But solid professional training is important, said Terno. „What we can inspire with is our impressive technology. In addition to our tractors, a Porsche SUV looks like an elephant roller skate,“ he said. In addition, the work is very varied, boredom is impossible.

It is more difficult to find future animal owners. „This requires special empathy and a willingness to work shifts, including on Sundays and public holidays,“ he said.

Green professions are being advertised at training fairs, among other things, said Terno. Sometimes there are also offspring from the families of the employees. „Nobody is running down our doors. We have to fight for every single apprentice,“ he said.

The number of training companies decreased by 9 to 511 in 2018. „If the apprentice does not stay in the industry, everything is wasted effort,“ said Terno.

The Brandenburg Farmers‘ Association reacted skeptically to the planned billions in aid for farmers in view of the planned tightening of the fertilizer ordinance. „The money must not be used to compensate for technical deficiencies in the fertilizer ordinance,“ said Association President Henrik Wendorff. It should be about meaningful measures that also help farmers.

The leaders of the Union and the SPD had decided to support the farmers with one billion euros over four years so that they can better master the conversion process. The coalition also wants to respond to peasant protests with this. These are directed against a renewed tightening of the fertilizer law for groundwater protection under pressure from the EU. Farmers are also demanding more say in new environmental requirements.

Technical defects contained in the fertilizer ordinance should be removed, said Wendorff. Scientifically sound proposals that do not provide for a blanket reduction in fertilizers are important. It is „total nonsense“ to forbid fertilization precisely at the times when it is long-established practice.

He also had doubts where the sum should come from. „You don’t just shake a billion euros off your sleeve,“ said Wendorff. He hoped that the peasants should not be sedated with the prospect of the money. „You can’t make hush money with us,“ he emphasized. After all, it’s not just about the next four years, but about the future of agriculture.

The Brandenburg beekeepers have to cope with a below-average honey harvest this year. „Exact figures are not yet available, but the trend is pointing downwards,“ said Holger Ackermann, press spokesman for the state association of Brandenburg beekeepers, the German press agency.123helpme.me Only about 20 kilograms of honey could be thrown per colony. Otherwise 30 to 50 kilograms are usual. The State Beekeeping Day on Saturday in Schönwalde-Glien (Havelland) is about breeding and keeping the bees, but also about wild bees, which are increasingly threatened with extinction.

This season, the outbreak of the American foulbrood bee epidemic was a particular burden in southern Brandenburg. At times it was the largest restricted area in Germany. According to the information, only the brood is affected by the bacterial disease. It is highly contagious for the animals and must therefore be reported. The disease is not dangerous for humans.

The regional association recommends using only bees from the region and of reliable origin to compensate for the losses. Among other things, foulbrood is favored when beekeepers feed the bees with supermarket honey in „bad times“, said Ackermann. It comes from all over the world and could contain foulbrood spores.

500 grams of regional honey cost between 5 and 8 euros. Ackermann does not fear an increase in prices this season. But every beekeeper decides that for himself, he said.

„The main reason for the lower honey yield is the lack of water from above,“ said Ackermann. The beekeepers in the rain-poor regions of the districts of Märkisch-Oderland and Oder-Spree are particularly affected.

Therefore, less nectar was formed in the flowers. „And that is the source of energy for the bees and flower-visiting insects. With it, the plants reward them for pollination,“ he said. „The plants also had to take care of themselves, and with the little water they had, they ensured their survival and renounced the formation of nectar,“ emphasized Ackermann.

According to the information, the bee colonies are now slowly going into hibernation. „But there are still a few specimens on the way on nice days,“ he said. And they still find food: in the blossoms of the fat hen, the sunflower or the various autumn asters. With this, the bees filled the reservoir in the hives in order to get through the winter well.

The regional association has around 2,600 beekeepers. On average, each has around 10 colonies, mostly of the Carnica variety.

For the Brandenburg fruit growers, the current mild temperatures offer no reason to be happy. „You shouldn’t be fooled by the plus degrees: It’s actually still winter,“ said the managing director of the Berlin-Brandenburg Horticultural Association, Andreas Jende, on request. Nature is only fooled into thinking that spring is on the way.

Last year, after weeks of mild temperatures, the fruit growers in the Brandenburg region had to experience severe frosts again at the end of April / beginning of May. Fully developed blossoms or the first batches of fruit fell from the trees.

In the end, one of the worst harvests for apples since the fall of the Wall was achieved last year, said Jende. Instead of the normal 30,000 to 35,000 tons, only about 11,000 tons of apples were picked nationwide.

„The fruit growers have not been able to cope with the harvest losses to this day,“ said Jende. They were still waiting for the financial help offered by the country.

3.1 million euros had been registered, said the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Agriculture, Frauke Zelt. The sum is an item in the supplementary budget and still has to be decided in the state parliament. Then the money is ready.

Attempts were made to regulate the flowering period and the ripening of the fruit through the varieties used, said Jende. The fruit growing research station in Müncheberg is being realigned. It is about developing plants – for conventional as well as organic cultivation. They should be able to cope with risks such as late frosts, but also damage from too much sun and water. „But it takes more time to be able to offer suitable varieties,“ he said.

Brandenburg’s State Farmers Association (LBV) has criticized the tightening of the fertilizer rules. „Changes in the fertilizer ordinance would not have been necessary in Brandenburg,“ said LBV President Henrik Wendorff, according to a statement on Friday. In Berlin on Friday, the Federal Council approved the federal government’s plans to tighten the fertilizer rules to protect groundwater from too much nitrate. Otherwise the Federal Republic would have threatened high fines to the EU because the nitrate limit values ​​in the groundwater are exceeded at many measuring points.

The federal states have until the turn of the year to designate so-called red areas with particularly high levels of nitrate. The LBV called on Agriculture Minister Axel Vogel (Greens) for a „sensible and causer-related“ redefinition of the red areas. In addition, the LBV expects that funding rates will be increased.

In a statement on Friday, Minister Vogel stated that Brandenburg would continue to adhere to the method of internal differentiation. The burdens would be considered in detail. The goal must be „to reconcile groundwater protection and agricultural use,“ said Vogel. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, less than three percent of the agricultural area in Brandenburg is currently designated as red areas. There are restrictions on agriculture.

Archaeologists have discovered a centuries-old „Groschengrab“ in Teltow (Potsdam-Mittelmark). When excavating a pit for an apartment building, the excavator shovel smashed a clay pot from which several coins rolled into the sand, reported the State Office for Monument Preservation on Thursday. The construction work was accompanied by employees of the state office. Upon closer examination, it turned out that there were more than 400 silver groschen hidden in the pot. With the exception of a Gdansk groschen from 1539, all coins came from the period between 1572 and 1633.

In 1634 the city was sacked by imperial troops during the Thirty Years‘ War. „It is possible that the coins had been hidden in the run-up to these events,“ said the state office. At that time, the building plot bordered the city wall. „The former owner was apparently no longer able to recover his coin assets, so that it only came to light again 380 years later.“

According to the State Office, 400 silver groschen were a great fortune in the 17th century. „A carpenter made seven groschen a day and a pair of shoes cost 18 groschen.“ Since the coins spanned a period of 62 years, the coin treasure was certainly hoarded for several generations.

Because a doctor from Oranienburg tested positive for the corona virus, several residents and employees of a nursing home have to be in quarantine. The Oberhavel district administration announced on Sunday that the health department was informed of the doctor’s positive test result.

The doctor has also worked in a nursing home for the past few days and was in contact with several residents and employees. Therefore, an admission and transfer stop has been issued for the facility. The contact persons in the home are being tested for the coronavirus and, like other people affected, were isolated at home outside the facility.

After the corona infection of a student at the Montessori school center in Potsdam, another student tested positive there. The tests of all 20 other contact persons of the first infected student, however, were negative, the city announced on Saturday. Since the second infected student was already in domestic isolation, there were no new contact persons. „The school remains open, the contact persons remain in quarantine,“ said the message.

After the infection of a student in the Marienschule in the Babelsberg district, 52 people who were in contact with the student are also subject to a 14-day quarantine. The school management had initially spoken of 80 contact persons, this number was corrected downwards on Sunday. The city announced on Sunday that the results of the corona tests on all 52 contact persons carried out on Saturday were negative.

In Teltow (Potsdam-Mittelmark district) a family announced the possible infection of a primary school student on Thursday. As a result, 24 classmates and two teachers had to be quarantined. Results of the further tests were not known over the weekend.

At the weekend, 25 new infections were reported in Brandenburg. The number of cases registered since the beginning of March rose to 3735.

A person from Berlin who tested positive for the corona virus had previously visited a swimming pool in Oranienburg (Oberhavel). There she was mostly outside last Sunday, but also used the indoor slide and the self-service restaurant, the district office announced on Friday. The lists with data from around 800 visitors on Sunday were sent to the district health department, said the manager of the adventure pool, Kay Duberow.

„Since the person was mostly outside, there was only a relatively low risk of infection for other bathers,“ said medical officer Christian Schulze, according to the announcement. Anyone who was also in the bathroom on Sunday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., had long contact with an unknown person or had symptoms of illness, could get advice from the health department.

Due to the corona pandemic, the memorial foundation is commemorating the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps in Brandenburg on the Internet this year. The original plan was for around 60 survivors to travel to the events. Instead, their impressions and descriptions will be available on Sunday at a „virtual 75th anniversary“ on the foundation’s social media channels and at „stiftung-bg.de“.

„It is these personal experiences that show us the inhuman system of the National Socialist rulers particularly impressively,“ said foundation director Axel Drecoll according to the announcement. „You help us to shape our future on the foundations of solidarity, respect for diversity and respect for every fellow human being.“ Drecoll hopes to catch up on the originally planned events with the survivors in April 2021.

Since Monday, the foundation has been distributing photos and short texts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook in memory of the victims of the concentration camps. There are also clips on artistic and educational projects that were part of the originally planned event programs.

During small-scale commemorative events on Thursday at the memorial sites in Ravensbrück and Sachsenhausen, video messages from politicians and musical contributions were also recorded, which are to be shown on the website.