A village at the edge of the forest

South of the Danube lies the Gäuboden, a flat, fertile loess plain around Straubing, among the most productive arable land in Bavaria. Wheat, barley, sugar beet and vegetables dominate, and the area has a long tradition of food processing.

North of the river, where Haibach lies, the land rises into the foothills of the Bavarian Forest. Farms are smaller, with more grassland and woodland, and tourism and small craft businesses play a larger role. The 2015 Bundestag portrait described the Rainer family business as being “in the Bavarian Forest”.

The district of Straubing-Bogen surrounds, but does not include, the independent city of Straubing. It has about 103,000 inhabitants in 37 municipalities. Straubing itself has about 49,000 and is known for the Gäubodenvolksfest, one of Bavaria’s largest folk festivals, and for its research campus on renewable resources.

From local experience to federal policy

Analysis

Many of the questions Rainer now handles as federal minister are questions this region faces directly. They include the future of family farms, the closure of village butchers and inns, the difficulty of finding apprentices and seasonal workers, drought on light soils, damaged forests, and the sense that decisions are made far away. The ministry’s new “Heimat” remit gives that rural perspective a formal place in federal government.