Food and Agriculture Organization

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is the specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Founded in 1945, it aims for food security for all, so that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives.

History of the Food and Agriculture Organization

The organization grew out of a wartime meeting. In 1943, forty-four governments met at Hot Springs, Virginia, in the United States and committed themselves to founding a permanent organization for food and agriculture.

The first session of the FAO Conference, held in Quebec City, Canada, in October 1945, established FAO as a specialized agency of the United Nations. The Canadian government notes that the conference was presided over by Lester Pearson, who later became Canada’s prime minister, and that Canada has been a member since the beginning.

FAO’s headquarters moved from Washington, DC, to Rome in 1951, so the organization spent its first years in the American capital before settling in Italy. Several milestones followed:

1960: the Freedom from Hunger Campaign was launched to mobilize non-governmental support.

1962: the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission, which sets international food standards, became operational.

1974: the UN World Food Conference in Rome recommended an International Undertaking on World Food Security.

1976: the Technical Cooperation Programme was established to respond more flexibly to urgent situations.

1981: more than 150 countries observed the first World Food Day on 16 October.

1996: FAO brought together heads of state from 185 countries and the European Community for the World Food Summit.

Membership and structure

FAO has 194 members: 193 countries and the European Union. It works in over 130 countries worldwide. The 194 members are 193 countries and the European Union, which joins as a member organization rather than a state. Canada, as its government notes, has been a member since the beginning in 1945. FAO organizes its work around what it calls agrifood systems, a term that covers how food and agricultural products are grown, processed, moved and consumed.

Like other UN specialized agencies, FAO is governed by its members through a conference of member countries. Its headquarters remain in Rome.

What FAO does

FAO’s work combines setting standards, gathering data and helping countries apply knowledge. Its main strands include the following.

International standards: the Codex Alimentarius Commission, run jointly with the World Health Organization, brings together committees on topics such as food contaminants, milk products and nutrition to develop global food standards. In 2026 its committees were still meeting, for example on a draft standard for pasteurized liquid camel milk.

Statistics and information: FAO developed AGROSTAT, which became operational in 1986 and was described as the world’s most comprehensive source of agricultural information and statistics.

Plant health: the International Plant Protection Convention was ratified in 1991 with 92 signatories.

Technical cooperation: field programs help governments respond to urgent needs and long-term development.

How Codex committees work

Codex Alimentarius standards are drafted by specialist committees that meet in member countries. In October 2026, for example, the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods held its 19th session in Cairo, Egypt, where it advanced three codes of practice for final adoption and agreed on new work proposals. The Committee on Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems held its 28th session the same month, and the Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses opened its 45th session in Nuremberg, Germany, in November 2026.

These meetings show the practical, slow nature of standard setting: texts move through committees and are then submitted to the Codex Alimentarius Commission for adoption.

Reports on world hunger

FAO’s most closely watched publication is The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World. FAO describes it as presenting each year the headline number of undernourished people while advocating strategies against hunger and malnutrition. It is produced jointly with IFAD, UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization.

The 2026 edition estimates that 645 million people faced hunger in 2025. It also reports that a healthy diet is unaffordable for about 2.7 billion people. Despite gradual improvement in recent years, FAO says, global hunger and food insecurity remain far above the targets in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The World Food Day page puts the same problem in plain terms: the world already produces enough food to nourish everyone, yet 645 million people still face hunger and 2.69 billion cannot afford a healthy diet.

FAO sponsors World Food Day each 16 October. For 2026 the theme is innovation in agrifood systems, from digital advisory services and improved seed varieties to farmer field schools and cooperative models.

Publications and data

The hunger report has taken a different theme each year. Recent editions looked at transforming food systems for healthy diets (2021), repurposing food and agricultural policies to make healthy diets more affordable (2022), urbanization and healthy diets across the rural-urban continuum (2023) and financing to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition (2024).

In 1980 FAO also concluded 56 agreements for the appointment of FAO Representatives in developing member countries, which gave it a permanent presence close to the governments it advises.

Challenges and criticism

FAO’s own figures show how far the goal of zero hunger remains from being met. The world already produces enough food to nourish everyone, FAO notes, yet conflict, economic instability and climate shocks put pressure on agrifood systems.

The organization marked its 50th anniversary in 1995 and, in 2020, its 75th, when the Canadian government joined FAO’s Director-General to commemorate the founding conference in Quebec City.

Legacy and impact

Over eight decades FAO has helped build the shared language of food policy, from Codex standards to the global hunger estimates used by governments and researchers. Its 50th anniversary in 1995 and the 1996 World Food Summit mark its role as a forum where governments agree on common goals, and World Food Day keeps those goals in public view each year.

Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed November 4, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue