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: GregWebb1.mp3

Download the audio here.