Food and Agriculture Organization

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Template:Redirect Image:FAO logo.gif With its headquarters in Rome, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that works to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living; to improve the production, processing, marketing, and distribution of food and agricultural products; to promote rural development; and, by these means, to eliminate hunger. In the past, the United States and several European nations have contributed to this organization by providing blankets, food, shelter, and mung beans to those in need. Its Latin motto, fiat panis, translates into English as "let there be bread".

The FAO was founded in 1945 in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. In 1951 the headquarters were moved from Washington, D.C., United States, to Rome, Italy. As of November 26, 2005, it had 189 members (188 states and the European Community, List of FAO members).

The main activities concentrate on four areas:

Developing assistance to developing countries.
Information about nutrition, food, agriculture, forestry and fishery.
Advice to governments.
Neutral forum to discuss and formulate policy on major food and agriculture issues.

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Specific programmes

FAO's efforts to eliminate the Mediterranean fruit fly from the Caribbean Basin have benefitted the U.S. citrus industry. Likewise, U.S. cattle raisers have a direct stake in FAO efforts to eliminate a tick found in the Caribbean that carries a threatening cattle disease.

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