# Convention of the International Institute of Agriculture

Convetion that formed the International Institute of Agriculture, an organization dedicated to collecting data and statistics on agricultre active from 1905 to 1945 before being merged with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. This is the official United States government version published in the first volume of the United States Treaty Series (Bevans).
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURE
* Convention signed at Rome June 7, 1905
* Senate advice and consent to ratification June 27, 1906
* Ratified by the President of the United States July 7, 1906
* Ratification of the United States deposited at Rome August 13, 1906
* Entered into force July 19, 1906; for the United States August 13, 1906
* Proclaimed by the President of the United States January 29, 1908
* Replacement in part: Protocol of April 21, 1926, substituted new text for the third and fourth paragraphs of article 10
* Terminated February 27, 1948, in accordance with terms of article III of protocol of March 30, 1946, providing for dissolution of the Institute and transfer of its functions and assets to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
35 Stat. 1918; Treaty Series 489
[TRANSLATION]
Convention
In a series of meetings held at Rome, from May 29 to June 6, 1905, the delegates of the Powers convened at the Conference for the creation of an International Institute of Agriculture, having agreed upon the text of a Convention to be dated June 7, 1905, and this text having been submitted for approval to the Governments which took part in the said conference, the undersigned, having been furnished with full powers found in good and due form, have agreed, in the names of their respective Governments, on what follows:
Art. 1
Art. 2
The international institute of agriculture is to be a government institution, in which each adhering power shall be represented by delegates of its choice.
The institute shall be composed of a general assembly and a permanent committee, the composition and duties of which are defined in the ensuing articles.
Art. 3
The general assembly of the institute shall be composed of the representatives of the adhering governments. Each nation, whatever be the number of its delegates, shall be entitled to a number of votes in the assembly which shall be determined according to the group to which it belongs, and to which reference will be made in article 10.
Art. 4
The general assembly shall elect for each session from among its members a president and two vice-presidents.
The sessions shall take place on dates fixed by the last general assembly and according to a programme proposed by the permanent committee and adopted by the adhering governments.
Art. 5
The general assembly shall exercise supreme control over the international institute of agriculture.
It shall approve the projects prepared by the permanent committee regarding the organization and internal workings of the institute. It shall fix the total amount of expenditures and audit and approve the accounts.
It shall submit to the approval of the adhering governments modifications of any nature involving an increase in expenditure or an enlargement of the functions of the institute. It shall set the date for holding the sessions. It shall prepare its regulations.
The presence at the general assemblies of delegates representing two-thirds of the adhering nations shall be required in order to render the deliberations valid.
Art. 6
The executive power of the institute is intrusted to the permanent committee, which, under the direction and control of the general assembly, shall carry out the decisions of the latter and prepare propositions to submit to it.
Art. 7
The permanent committee shall be composed of members designated by the respective governments. Each adhering nation shall be represented in the ​permanent committee by one member. However, the representation of one nation may be intrusted to a delegate of another adhering nation, provided that the actual number of members shall not be less than fifteen.
The conditions of voting in the permanent committee shall be the same as those indicated in article 3 for the general assemblies.
Art. 8
The permanent committee shall elect from among its members for a period of three years a president and a vice-president, who may be reelected. It shall prepare its internal regulations, vote the budget of the institute within the limits of the funds placed at its disposal by the general assembly, and appoint and remove the officials and employees of its office.
The general secretary of the permanent committee shall act as secretary of the assembly.
Art. 9
The institute, confining its operations within an international sphere, shall—
(a) Collect, study, and publish as promptly as possible statistical, technical, or economic information concerning farming, both vegetable and animal products, the commerce in agricultural products, and the prices prevailing in the various markets;
(b) Communicate to parties interested, also as promptly as possible, all the information just referred to;
(c) Indicate the wages paid for farm work;
(d) Make known the new diseases of vegetables which may appear in any part of the world, showing the territories infected, the progress of the disease, and, if possible, the remedies which are effective in combating them;
(e) Study questions concerning agricultural cooperation, insurance, and credit in all their aspects; collect and publish information which might be useful in the various countries in the organization of works connected with agricultural cooperation, insurance, and credit;
(f) Submit to the approval of the governments, if there is occasion for it, measures for the protection of the common interests of farmers and for the improvement of their condition, after having utilized all the necessary sources of information, such as the wishes expressed by international or other agricultural congresses or congresses of sciences applied to agriculture, agricultural societies, academies, learned bodies, etc.
Art. 10
The nations adhering to the institute shall be classed in five groups, according to the place which each of them thinks it ought to occupy.
The number of votes which each nation shall have and the number of units of assessment shall be established according to the following gradations:
| Groups of nations | Numbers of votes | Units of assessment |
| I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 5 | 16 |
| II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 4 | 8 |
| III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 3 | 4 |
| IV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 2 | 2 |
| V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 1 | 1 |
In any event the contribution due per unit of assessment shall never exceed a maximum of 2,500 francs.
As a temporary provision the assessment for the first two years shall not exceed 1,500 francs per unit.
Colonies may, at the request of the nations to which they belong, be admitted to form part of the institute on the same conditions as the independent nations.
Art. 11
The present Convention shall be ratified and the ratifications exchanged as soon as possible by depositing them with the Italian Government.
In faith whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention and have hereunto affixed their seals.
Done at Rome the 7th of June one thousand nine hundred and five, in a single original, deposited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy, of which certified copies shall be sent through the diplomatic channel to the contracting States.
* For Italy: Tittoni[seal]
* For Montenegro: General Mitar Martinovich[seal]
* For Russia: Kroupensky[seal]
* For Argentine Republic: Bald.$^o$ M. Fonseca[seal]
* For Roumania: Nicolas Fléva[seal]
* For Servia: M. Milovanovitch[seal]
* For Belgium: L. Verhaeghe de Naeyer[seal]
* For El Salvador: J. Gustavo Guerrero[seal]
* For Portugal: M. de Carvalho e Vasconcellos[seal]
* For United States of Mexico: G. A. Esteva[seal]
* For Luxemburg: L. Verhaeghe de Naeyer[seal]
* For Switzerland: J. B. Proda[seal] ​
* For Persia: N. Malclom[seal]
* For Japan: T. Ohyama[seal]
* For Ecuador: J. T. Mera[seal]
* For Bulgaria: D. Mintchovitch[seal]
* For Denmark: Cte. Moltre[seal]
* For Spain: Duc de Argos[seal]
* For France: Camille Barrère[seal]
* For Sweden: Bildt[seal]
* For The Netherlands: Jonkheer van der Goes[seal]
* For Greece: Christ. Mizzopoulos[seal]
* For Uruguay: Jean Cuestas[seal]
* For Germany: A. Monts[seal]
* For Cuba: Carlos de Pedroso[seal]
* For Austria-Hungary: H. Lützow, Ambassador of Austria-Hungary[seal]
* For Norway: Carl Lövenskiold[seal]
* For Egypt: Aziz Izzet[seal]
* For Great Britain and Ireland: Edwin H. Egerton[seal]
* For Guatemala: Thomas Segarini[seal]
* For Ethiopia: Giuseppe Cuboni[seal]
* For Nicaragua: Jean Giordano duc de Oratino[seal]
* For United States of America: Henry White[seal]
* For Brazil: Barros Moreira[seal]
* For Costa Rica: Rafael Montealegre[seal]
* For Chile: Victor Grez[seal]
* For Peru: Andrés A. Caceras[seal]
* For China: Houang Kao[seal]
* For Paraguay: F. S. Benucci[seal]
* For Turkey: M. Réchid[seal]
* ↑ Date of deposit of second ratification.
* ↑ TS 903, post, vol. 2.
* ↑ For explanation of termination date, see TIAS 1719, p. 4, footnote 1. For text of Final Act of the Permanent Committee of the Institute, dated Feb. 27, 1948, see Department of State Bulletin, June 27, 1948, p. 828.
* ↑ TIAS 1719, post.
Footnotes
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105).
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