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Pekka Pesonen Portrait

Mr Pekka Pesonen is the Secretary-General of Copa, representing European farmers, and Cogeca, representing European agri-cooperatives, which together count more than 70 national farming organisations from across Europe.

Previously, he worked as State Secretary for the Finnish Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry. In addition, Mr Pesonen has extensive professional experience in lobbying at the EU level on behalf of Finnish farmers, forest owners (MTK and SLC) and agri-forestry cooperatives (Pellervo). In the 1990s, he worked in the sales and marketing department of Valio, a Finnish dairy company.

Mr Pesonen has also been a member of several high-level advisory groups concerning EU policy preparation. He is a qualified agronomist and is married with three teenage children.