Switzerland became member of FAO on 11 September 1946. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which is a specialized United Nations Agency was founded in 1945.

The two main Offices responsible for FAO matters in Switzerland are the Federal Office for Agriculture which hosts the Swiss Secretariat for FAO and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

As a FAO member Switzerland takes actively part in different FAO foras such as the Conference which is the supreme governing body of FAO that meets in regular session every two years. Switzerland is a member of the following Committees: Committee on World Food Security, Committee on Agriculture, Committee on Forestry and Committee on Commodity Problems, Commission on genetic resources for food and agriculture.

The Swiss contribution to FAO amounts to more than CHF 5 mio per year or 1.1 % of the total regular budget of FAO. In addition Switzerland supports activities and projects of special interest for our country such as:

• the emergency operations (Food Aid)
• the implementation of the Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture adopted by the FAO Conference in 2001
• the building of a Global Agenda for Action in support of Sustainable Livestock Sector Development
• the preparation for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio + 20)
• the High Level Panel of Experts of the Committee on World Food Security
• the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security
• a joint programme FAO/UNEP on sustainable consumption and food production