about planning for emergencies. This reflected the broad approach taken at the
time. Intent upon the long-term objective of improving overall food consumption,
the conference gave little attention to accidental (but recurring) disruptions in
supplies that required emergency assistance. The urgent task of providing the war-
ravaged countries of Europe and Asia with food and other essential relief goods
was addressed at another conference held in Washington, DC in November 1943,
which led to the establishment of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation
Administration (UNRRA) (Woodbridge, 1950).
agencies, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International
Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), started to unravel by the time
of the first FAO conference in Quebec, Canada in 1945 as the major economic
powers returned to self-centred national policies and preference for bilateral as
opposed to multilateral arrangements. Their intentions were clearly expressed.
FAO was to keep off the short-term food crisis and commercial and commodity
policies and concentrate on long-term issues of nutrition, production and national
distribution. The course of subsequent events, and the personality of the first FAO
director-general, Sir (later Lord) John Boyd Orr, called for different action. The
world food situation rapidly worsened and the agencies involved in handling it,
including the UNRRA, were blamed at the UN General Assembly in February 1947.
UNRRA was disbanded and Boyd Orr announced that FAO was willing to take
over its role and accept responsibility for mobilizing world resources to meet the
crisis. He proposed calling a conference, which took place in Washington, DC
in May 1947, for which FAO prepared a survey showing the expected severity of
the food situation. This resulted in the establishment of an International Emer-
gency Council (later Committee), which was eventually absorbed into FAO as its
Distribution Division. At the same time, Boyd Orr was requested to submit to the
next FAO conference in Copenhagen, Denmark proposals for dealing with the
long-term problems, including the risk of accumulating surpluses.