A control device for an agricultural application device which has an application boom pivotally mounted on a carrier, on which application components are arranged for applying liquid and/or solid active substances. The control device has a pressure supply connection and a return connection and a controllable valve arrangement and a hydraulic cylinder arrangement, which has a first cylinder effective area, connected to the valve arrangement and a second cylinder effective area, wherein the two cylinder effective areas can be pressurized and each are connected to a hydraulic accumulator, and wherein the pivot position of the application boom is variable by changing the switching state of the valve arrangement. In order to further develop the control device in such a way that the spring rate of the application boom can be decoupled from its pivot position, it is proposed according to the invention that the cylinder effective areas can be pressurized with a predeterminable pressure independent of the pivot position of the application boom. In addition, an agricultural application device having such a control device is proposed.