Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (Netherlands)

Azure, billetty Or a lion with a coronet Or armed and langued Gules holding in his dexter paw a sword Argent hilted Or and in the sinister paw seven arrows Argent pointed and bound together Or. [The seven arrows stand for the seven provinces of the Union of Utrecht.] The shield is crowned with the (Dutch) royal crown and supported by two lions Or armed and langued gules. They stand on a scroll Azure with the text (Or) "Je Maintiendrai" (French for "I will maintain".)
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The main office in the centre of The Hague

The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (Ministerie van Landbouw, Natuurbeheer en Voedselkwaliteit; LNV) was formerly the ministry of agriculture of the Netherlands. On 14 October 2010, when the Rutte cabinet took office, the department was merged with the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs to form the new Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation.

Responsibilities

The Ministry was responsible for four fields of policy:

Organisation

The Ministry was headed by one Minister. Its main office was located in the centre of The Hague. The Ministry was divided into ten policy departments, which was headed by a governing council. The policy departments were responsible for: Industry and Trade, International Affairs, Juridical Affairs, Knowledge, Agriculture, Nature, Rural Affairs, Regional Affairs, Fishery and Food Quality and Animal Health.

It had several semi-independent services:

History

The Ministry was established as a separate ministry, called "Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries", in 1935. Agriculture and fisheries policy had previously been integrated into the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and later into the Ministry of Water, Trade and Industry.

After the Second World War the Ministry became responsible for the rationing of food and the reconstruction of the agricultural sector. As such it became much more important. Between 1946 and 1982 the ministry was a "client"-oriented ministry, oriented at the development of the agriculture sector in accordance to the European Common Agriculture Policy.[1] In 1982 the ministry also became responsible for natural conservation and open air recreation, which used to be part of the responsibilities of the Ministry of Culture, Recreation and Social Work. As such it became more focused on sustainable development of the agricultural sector.

In 2003 the Food and Goods Authority became part of the ministry, which was renamed Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.

Ministers

Since 1989 the following politicians have been minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality

See also

References

  1. Neelen et al. (2003), De bestuurlijk kaart van Nederland, p.69
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