Mariann Fischer Boel is a Danish politician of the party Venstre. In 2002 she was appointed minister of agriculture and foods in the government led by Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

In 2004 she was selected for the European Commission with the portfolio for agriculture and rural development.

As the Danish agricultural minister, she has argued that it would be better if the subsidies on agriculture were entirely removed, a statement on a subject that in many European countries is highly controversial.

Together with her husband, Mariann owns three farms in Denmark. For some observers, this has called into question her neutrality in discharging her European Commission brief, as she for instance would have the power to determine the purchasing price of different crops, thereby affecting her own personal income. Mariann argues that it is her husband who runs the farms, and as she is not personally engaged in the farms, she is able to maintain neutrality.