Canadian Wheat and International Wheat Conferences
| Author | Graham Spry |
| Published date | 01 September 1956 |
| Date | 01 September 1956 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002070205601100302 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
CANADIAN
WHEAT
AND
INTERNATIONAL
WHEAT
CONFERENCES
II.
THE
UNITED
NATIONS
WHEAT
CONFERENCE
By
Graham Spry*
HE
world
conference
"to
review
the
wheat
situation
and
the
operation
of
the
International
Wheat
Agreement"
met
in
Geneva in
late
1955
and
early
1956.
It
was
convoked
not
by
the
Wheat
Council
but
by
the
United
Nations.
The
fifty-nine
delegations,
therefore,
represented both
participants
in
the
present
Wheat Agreement,
forty-eight
in
number,
and
non-
participants
in
their
capacity
as
members
of
the
United
Nations
or
as
important
wheat
producers. Each
of
the
Soviet
countries
except
China
was
represented
by observers. The
conference,
in
consequence,
was
the
most
widely
representative
discussion
of
wheat yet
held
and
one
of
the
largest
economic
or
commodity
conferences
since
the
war.
There
were two
results
similar
to
those
of
the
conference
of
1953
in
Washington.
The
delegations
of
most
of
the
countries
of
the
world,
fifty
in
all,
recommended
to
their
governments
the
renewal
of
the
Agreement
for
a
third
term
of
years.
The
United
Kingdom,
the largest
importer,
declined
to
participate
and
thus
again
diverged
from
the
policy
of
other
leading
im-
porters,
of
the
United
States
and
British
Commonwealth
countries.
The
grounds
for this
non-adherence
differed, how-
ever,
from
those
given
in
1953.
Then,
Britain's
decision
not
to
renew
her
membership
was
explained
solely
as
a
matter
of
the
maximum
price;
no
objection
was
made
to
the
principles
or
operation
of
the
Agreement.
In
1956,
Britain
withheld
parti-
cipation
on
very
much
wider
grounds;
almost
the
whole
basis
of
the
Agreement
was
found
wanting.
*Mr.
Graham
Spry, Agent
General
for
the
Government
of
Saskatchewan
in
the
United Kingdom
and
Europe,
has
been
engaged
in
reporting
on
the
wheat
situation
for
several
years.
He
was in
Geneva
during
part
of
the
first
and
second
sessions
of
the
World
Wheat
Conference
but
was
not
a member
in
any
capacity
of
the Canadian
Delegation.
The
views
he
expresses
in
the
article are
wholly
personal and
made
on
his
own
responsibility.
Part
I:
"Before
Geneva
Conference"
appeared
in the
Spring,
1956,
issue
of
the
Journal.
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