International Institute of Agriculture

The International Institute of Agriculture (IIA) was the first organization to systematically produce and exchange global data on crops, cultivated land, and trade flows. The late 19th century called for a demand in worldwide data on production, stocks, and consumption, as a rise in agricultural commoditities emerged in global markets. Private actors and services attempted to step in to address these gaps that were present in the agricultural field, but could not fulfill these issues. As a result, governments created the IIA to provide public international statistics, in response to these previous challenges. Their reports on crops and evaluations on international production became crucial components to analyze the global economy and universal agricultural data analytics. After World War II, it was replaced by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.