Presidency 2011-2013

The CEJA Presidency is democratically elected every 2 years by CEJA's member organisations at the annual General Assembly. Elections took place on 11 April 2011 in Brussels for the Presidency 2011-2013.

‘Commissioner Dacian Cioloş and the CEJA presidency during the official opening of the CEJA photo exhibition hosted at the Berlaymont, 29th September 2011, Brussels’ 

President

Joris Baecke was re-elected in 2011 to lead CEJA following his initial mandate of 2009. As President, he works to highlight the issues affecting young people in the agricultural sector in Europe. He has held a wide range of roles in agricultural organizations and national committees in his country, being a delegate to CEJA for several years from his national young farmer‟s organization, NAJK. A young agri-entrepenuer, he runs an arable crop which produces potatoes, onions, sugar-beets, grass for seed production, wheat and flax. From the age of 18, he has been mainly responsible for plant healthcare, fertilization and administrative matters concerning cross-compliance and GlobalGAP certification at his farm in the Southwest of the Netherlands. Parallel to the responsibility on his family farm, he took a degree in Agronomy at Wageningen University.

Vice Presidents

Ingrid Pettersson

Ingrid Pettersson was re-elected as CEJA Vice President in 2011. Ingrid has been a member of the Swedish regional LRF Youth board for the last nine years, both as Vice-President and President, and member of the national board for the last three years. She was responsible for international issues and regularly participated in CEJA seminars and events. Ingrid grew up on a farm owned and run by her father and uncles and already took an active part in the daily work of the family farm during her childhood and youth, especially regarding crop production and dairy cows. Today, a small amount of forestry has been added to the family farm. After finishing her agricultural studies, Ingrid worked on different farms, mainly with pigs, both as an animal-keeper and as a foreman.

Rok Sedminek

Rok Sedminek was re-elected CEJA Vice President in 2011. Rok is a former President of the Slovenian Rural Youth organisation ZSPM and a member of several committees in the Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry of Slovenia, including the agriculture, hop growing, horse breeding, educational, social welfare and rural family committees. He studied at the Šentjur high school to become an agricultural technician. Since the year 2000, Rok Sedminek has been a co-owner of a 60 hectare farm specialising in animal husbandry.

Jose Fernando Robles

Jose Fernando Robles was elected CEJA Vice President in 2011. Jose Fernando has been a farmer since 2006 after taking over management of his family agri-enterprise in Toledo, Castilla la Mancha in Spain. The agri-business has 45 hectares of arable land for the production of cereals, sunflowers, chickpeas and other non-irrigated crops and 10 hectares of olive groves for the production of olive oil. Since 2008 he has also been a small producer of vegetables for local selling in a mountainous area called Sierra de Aracena (Huelva). Most recently, he coordinated the European Congress of Young Farmers seminar held in Seville in February 2010. He has also promoted several European projects for the development of integrated farming and Conservation Agriculture in the surroundings of natural protected areas during 2001-2008.

Laurent Frantz

Laurent Frantz was elected CEJA Vice President in 2011. Laurent took over his family’s dairy farm business in 2009. As of today, he runs a farm with 95 milking cows and cultivates 105 hectares of cropland. His farm is located in Roeser, approximately 10 km south of Luxembourg City. In 2000, he was actively involved through various committees in the ‘Lëtzebuerger Jongbaueren a Jongwenzer’ first on a local and then on a national scale. In 2007 he began representing the Luxembourg organization for the first time within CEJA. Since 2006, he has been member of the board of the machinery ring ‘MBR-Services’, which he headed as president since 2008.