Our friends at the Farm Foundation are at it again, bringing a variety of folks together to offer differing viewpoints to come up with workable solutions. Last month, I had a chance to sit in on their Transition to a Bioeconomy: Environmental and Rural Impacts Conference in St. Louis where I heard many sides of the issues facing the biodiesel and ethanol industries.

Now, the foundation, in conjunction with Farm Journal, is holding its first Food and Agriculture Policy Summit, Dec. 2nd–4th in Washington D.C., where biofuels will be a key part of the agenda:

On Dec. 4, Farm Foundation will examine long-term challenges and opportunities in the conference Agriculture’s Strategic Role: Feeding and Fueling a Growing World. This program will begin with the release of a new Farm Foundation report detailing the policy challenges and options the United States and the world will face to feed a growing world over the next 30 years.

“Experts predict the world’s population will increase 35 percent by 2050, reaching almost 9.2 billion people,” says Farm Foundation President Neil Conklin. “It is critical that we begin today to address the challenges facing the world’s food and agricultural system to provide feed, fiber and fuel for this growing world.”

On Dec. 3rd, nine former Secretaries of Agriculture are slated for a 90-minute discussion of challenges and opportunities facing agriculture today, and you can bet that biodiesel and ethanol will be a key part of that talk.

There’s still plenty of time to register with early-bird registration open until Nov. 17th. Click here for more information.