Career
A teacher by profession, he was the Danish Minister of Food from 2004 to 2007. Before that, he was the Minister for the Environment from 2001. Schmidt is the son of Holger and Ingrid Schmidt, who lived and worked on a farm.
He was a school teacher in Vojens until 1984 before entering government.
He is a longtime resident of the town of Vojens in Jutland (South Denmark).
