KANSAS CITY (Reuters) -- DuPont on Thursday said it would set up an advisory committee to study public policy and other agriculture and food production issues as the global conglomerate positions its crop and chemicals businesses to address a rapidly growing world population.

Former U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle will chair the committee on "Agricultural Innovation & Productivity for the 21st Century," which, among other initiatives, is to examine public-policy mechanisms to help increase agricultural production as global population soars toward an expected 9 billion people by 2050.

Based on projections from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, agriculture will need to nearly double output by 2050 due to population growth.

"We know we don't have a lot of new acres. The committee is aimed at trying to address ... how do we really help the world increase the quantity, quality and safety of the world's food supply," said DuPont executive vice president James Borel, who leads the company's production agriculture businesses Pioneer Hi-Bred and crop protection.

The committee will be looking at a range of issues, including technology advances, competitive market concerns, collaboration among researchers, farmers, governments and corporations, and governmental leadership.

Borel said current trade rules, intellectual property rights and infrastructure were among the key issues.

"We need to figure out how to participate. It will take some different collaborations between government and companies and NGOs. We're going to figure out how to work together differently, more effectively," Borel said.

Daschle, who formerly represented South Dakota in the U.S. Senate and served as Senate majority leader, said the committee would formulate specific goals for DuPont to pursue.

"We can't simply settle for broad generalizations," he said in an interview with Reuters. "We have to get down to the nitty gritty."

Daschle said increasing crop yields, a key focus for DuPont, will need to be coupled with moves that bolster infrastructure in developing nations and help establish markets for farmers in poor parts of the world such as sub-Saharan Africa.

The advisory committee, whose members are yet to be named, is to develop public-policy recommendations to present to DuPont by March, 2011.

DuPont's effort is separate from the Global Harvest Initiative, a collaborative effort by DuPont, rival Monsanto, John Deere and Archer Daniels Midland Co. that is focusing on similar concerns.