Abstract

The term food security first came into use in reaction to the unfolding World Food Crisis of the early Seventies. Food security as understood then focused on supply of food on world markets. This focus on was not due to a neglect of the wider issues surrounding hunger, but was in answer to a supply shock on a grand scale. A curtailment of US production combined with a grain deal with the Soviet Union had depleted this country´s reserves and thus upset world markets. As a reaction to the worldwide shortage, the United Nations convened a World Food Conference in 1974. One of the main goals of international cooperation was to avoid another supply shock. The article considers the efforts to install an international food reserve and to raise the food aid commitment.