The world’s population will grow by 33 percent by the year 2040, but the amount of farmland to feed and fuel that growing demand won’t have to grow by that same one-third… that’s what attendees at the Farm Foundation’s Food and Agriculture Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. heard this morning.
Greg Webb from Archer Daniels Midland gave that optimistic assessment as he told the group increasing efficiencies in production agriculture would help meet the growing demands while adding only a disproportional smaller amount of land to the production mix.
“Agriculture’s role is not one of conflict between food or fuel. It is one that is quite compatible. Producing more food results in more fuel being produced as well.”
Webb says more efficient practices will give farmers, who are already are being pretty efficient compared to just recent history, an even greater opportunity to produce both the food and fuel the world demands, as long policies don’t get in the way.
“We need to have policies that allow those innovations and investments express themselves.”
Webb adds Pres.-elect Obama’s new Cabinet will have a great impact on how those policies play out.
You can hear my conversation with Greg by clicking here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/farm-foundation/GregWebb1.mp3]
Download the audio here.
General Motors’ Rick Wagoner (left) made the trip in a black hybrid Chevrolet Malibu, accompanied by a flex fuel Buick Lucerne, which runs on fuel that is 85 percent ethanol, and the high mileage Chevy Cobalt XFE. “Part of this is being done to showcase fuel-efficient and environment-friendly vehicles,” said GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson.
Ford’s Chief Executive Alan Mulally (center) traveled to the nation’s capital in a Ford Escape hybrid, which also runs on up to 85 percent ethanol. No word in the news reports what Robert Nardelli, chairman and chief executive of Chrysler, was driving.
The National Biodiesel Board is taking exception with a report that seems to equate unsustainable practices to produce biodiesel in some parts of the world with what American biodiesel producers are doing
It was a pretty amazing event today at the Farm Foundation’s Food and Agriculture Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. today.
A big part of this historic, bipartisan conversation was the role of biodiesel and ethanol, as well as other sources of renewable fuels.
As expected, bankruptcy law and the ruling will allow VeraSun to reject any contracts that are economically disadvantageous to VeraSun, including corn growers’ contracts.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has extended its deadline to apply for grants to help the state’s biodiesel industry.
Moberly, Mo.-based Producers’ Choice Soy Energy LLC has received a $9.5 million construction loan from Advantage Capital Partners, a venture capital and small business finance firm. The loan was made possible through state and federal tax programs, including the Missouri New Markets Development program, that are designed to stimulate growth in underserved communities.
The summit kicks off today with the Farm Journal Forum on “What Will Change Bring? Impacts of a New Congress and Administration in the New Era of Agriculture” which continues through Wednesday. The keynote speaker for that event will be POET CEO Jeff Broin who will discuss the potential for ethanol production amid changes in Congress and the new administration of President-elect Barack Obama. 
Among them is a conservative, free market group called 
Indiana corn growers are also calling on the IRL to continue using domestically-produced ethanol. “We encourage the citizens of Indiana to make your opinion known to the IRL if you feel this decision was a mistake and not in the best interest of our country, Indiana farmers, and the local economies that benefit from the growing ethanol industry in our state,” said Mike Shuter, president of the