Cees Veerman

Early life

Veerman attended Erasmus University in Rotterdam, then went on to attain a doctorate degree of economic science at Wageningen University in 1983.

After attaining his degree, Veerman taught economics at a secondary school. In 1989 he taught agricultural business economics and sociology at Tilburg University. A year later, Veerman became a professor of agribusiness at his alma-mater, Erasmus University, then in 1997, became chairman of the board of management at Wageningen University.

Politics

Veerman served as the Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality for the Netherlands in the third and fourth cabinet Balkenende. He was also President of the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers. Some of the key issues he was focused on include the relationship between agriculture and society (especially combating poverty), the relationship between farming and nature, and reforms for the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which includes the feud over European farm aid. He is very influential in international environmental affairs. He was succeeded by Gerda Verburg on 22 February 2007.

Trivia

Veerman has sat as a member on various supervisory boards throughout his career. Some of these boards include the National Cooperative Council for Agricultural and Horticulture, the board of the Horticultural Auction Association, the DLO Agricultural Economics Research Institute, the Moret, Ernst & Young advisory board, the Nieuw-Beijerland municipal council for the Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA), and the Social and Economic Council.