Mark CROPPER

Mark Cropper studied Agricultural and Forest Sciences at Oxford University and, after a year working in the UK extension service, obtained his PhD in the “Growth and development of Sheep” at Edinburgh University in 1988. He spent seven years in post-doctorate research, working on animal production systems in Scotland, New Zealand and Galicia, Spain before joining the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture (DG AGRI) in December 1994. He worked first on the EU sheep premium regime, co-ordination of agricultural research, electronic identification of animals and, in 2000, the introduction of the compulsory EU beef labelling scheme. From 2002 to 2010 he worked on the major dossiers relating to the CAP reform process and then, for three years, was in charge of agricultural research issues. Since January 2011 he has been responsible for OECD matters in DG AGRI, covering all agricultural and rural development issues of relevance to the CAP. He is a Vice-chair of the OECD’s Working Party on Rural Policy. In 2016 he was nominated Senior Expert in the unit for “Global Issues and relations with ACP”, where he also follows work related to the G20, FAO and other international organisations.