Sicco Mansholt specialized in tropical agriculture and went to the Netherlands East Indies where he worked in a tea plantation from 1934 until 1936. Back to the Netherlands, he became a tenant-farmer in the land of the Wieringermeer, also active in the Labour Party (SDAP). During the Second World War, he actively participated in the Resistance movement. In 1945, he became Minister of Agriculture, Food Supply and Fisheries, a post he held until 1958. Following the Schuman Plan for a European Coal and Steel Community, he suggested the creation of a common agricultural market (first ‘Mansholt Plan’). In 1958, he was appointed as member of the European Commission responsible for agricultural affairs. In theses duties, he promoted the second ‘Mansholt Plan’ facing the agricultural surpluses. In 1967, he was elected Vice-President and in March 1972, President of the European Commission. After his retirement in 1973, he continued to support a more ecological approach to economical development and advocated a third Mansholt Plan enhancing the agriculture policy: direct control of production together with guaranteed price.