The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) was formed in 1986 after an international meeting of farm leaders in Geneva, Switzerland, as a response to the farm crisis of the mid-1980s. IATP founder Mark Ritchie had worked for the state of Minnesota in trade policy, and IATP's original focus was international trade agreements such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the subsequent establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, and the long-term effects of these trade agreements on local communities. IATP then turned to the interrelated issues of food systems, farm policy, climate change, and fair trade. For further information, see the IATP website.
