Dec. 8, 2017
Latest news and updates
Annual Report highlights DWFI's outcomes and impacts in 2017
We're pleased to share our 2017 Annual Report, "Local to Global: Developing Solutions and Making Impacts," which highlights outcomes and impacts achieved through collaborative initiatives, activities and partnerships — from Nebraska to more than 70 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and South America. We invite you to visit our website to read the report and learn more about our progress.
2017 Water for Food Global Conference report now available
The proceedings report from the 2017 Water for Food Global Conference is available on our website. The report summarizes three days of presentations and discussions surrounding major aspects of the conference theme: “Water for Food Security: From Local Lessons to Global Impacts.”

Through this lens, more than 100 speakers and panelists shared case studies and perspectives on pressing global water and food security challenges, including innovations in sustainable irrigation in Africa, governance of major river basins and groundwater, new technologies to improve water use and more.
Water for Food grants support student researchers
DWFI has awarded grants to eleven University of Nebraska–Lincoln faculty to provide assistantships to graduate students doing research that contributes to global water and food security. The projects range from empowering smallholder farmers in Haiti to examining how uranium moves through soil to reach Nebraska’s groundwater.

Nebraska faculty receiving the awards are:

  • P. Stephen Baenziger, professor and Wheat Growers Presidential Chair, UNL Agronomy and Horticulture. Ph.D. student: Nicholas Garst, UNL Agronomy and Horticulture.
  • Yufeng Ge, assistant professor, UNL Biological Systems Engineering. Graduate student: To be recruited.
  • James D. Goedert, professor, UNL Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction. Ph.D. student: To be recruited.
  • Jesse Korus, assistant professor, UNL School of Natural Resources. Graduate student: Jaqueline Polashek, UNL School of Natural Resources.
  • Xu Li, associate professor, UNL Civil Engineering. Graduate student: Maria Cecilia Hall, UNL Civil Engineering.
  • Yusong Li, associate professor, UNL Civil Engineering. Ph.D. student: Chuyang Liu, UNL Civil Engineering.
  • Adam Liska, associate professor, George Dempster Smith Chair of Industrial Ecology, UNL Biological Systems Engineering. Graduate student: Calvin Harman, UNL Biological Systems Engineering.
  • Taro Mieno, assistant professor, UNL Agricultural Economics. Graduate student: Paloch Suchato, UNL Agricultural Economics.
  • James C. Schnable, assistant professor, UNL Agronomy and Horticulture. Ph.D. student: Daniel Santana de Carvalho, UNL Agronomy and Horticulture.
  • Karina Schoengold, associate professor, UNL Agricultural Economics. Graduate student: Qianyu Zhang, UNL Agricultural Economics.
  • Karrie Weber, associate professor, UNL Biological Sciences and Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Ph.D. student: Jeffrey Westrop, UNL Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Several videos are available to learn more about the students and their research. For more information on the 2017-2018 student support grantees, visit here .

Pictured below: DWFI Faculty Fellow Karrie Weber (right), associate professor of biological sciences and earth and atmospheric sciences at Nebraska, provides direction to doctoral student Jeffrey Westrop (second from right), Nebraska Water Center post-doctoral research associate Arindam Malakar (third from right) and other students as they prepare to test uranium levels in groundwater near Alda, Nebraska.
Paid to pump: Policy brief analyzes potential impacts of tax policy on groundwater conservation
An important goal of the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute is to improve groundwater management for agricultural production. One challenge when working with groundwater is that it’s literally underground. As a result, it’s often hard to understand and picture what’s happening in an aquifer in terms of the physical flow of water. But it’s equally hard to understand how local, regional, and national policies can affect groundwater use, whether in data-poor areas such as sub-Saharan Africa or in well-studied areas such as the High Plains Aquifer.

We are pleased to share our first policy brief, which examines a little-known federal tax credit for aquifer depletion, which may discourage High Plains Aquifer conservation.
Oxford/World Bank/Nebraska partnership on water markets
In a video produced by Oxford University's Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Director of Policy Nick Brozovic describes a new global water markets project being developed by the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska, the World Bank and Oxford University.
Hubbard Series highlights the need for sustainable practices to protect Nebraska's natural resources
Executive Director Peter G. McCornick (right) shared thoughts on the importance of sustainable agriculture and putting research into action at last week's Hubbard Sustainability Series event, hosted by Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Nebraska. He was joined by Kara Eastman of the Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance and Chuck Schroeder of the Rural Futures Institute at the University of Nebraska.
Finding what works: Groundwater management in the Western U.S.
Groundwater is a difficult resource to manage and presents challenges that are distinct from those related to surface water management.

DWFI Program Coordinator Kate Gibson provides insights on effective groundwater management, citing the forthcoming joint DWFI- Environmental Defense Fund report. Read more in the Groundwater Foundation's "Aquifer" newsletter.
Nebraska Water Center updates
2018 Water Tour heads west to Colorado and Wyoming

The Nebraska Water Center’s water and natural resources tour, June 26-29, will travel west along the North Platte River basin in Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming this summer. The tour will feature a visit to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s North Platte irrigation project in Wyoming, as well as points of interest in Colorado and Nebraska. Registration updates will be posted at watercenter.unl.edu.
Faculty Fellows in the news
Simanti Banerjee, behavioral and environmental economist, UNL

P. Stephen Baenziger, agronomist and wheat breeder, UNL

Patricio Grassini and Ken Cassman (emeriti), agronomists, UNL

Daran Rudnick, i rrigation/water management specialist, UNL

Trenton Franz, hydrogeophysicist and assistant Professor, UNL

Charles Wortmann, agronomist, UNL

Daniel Schachtman, plant molecular physiologist, UNL
Upcoming events
Friday, Dec. 15 | 4:30-6:00 p.m. CT

Bob Oglesby retirement reception
Morrill Hall - Elephant Hall
University of Nebraska-Lincoln City Campus

A retirement reception will be held for DWFI Faculty Fellow and Nebraska climate modeler Bob Oglesby, Dec. 14 at Morrill Hall. Dr. Oglesby has been a professor at UNL for 11 years, serving both the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and the School of Natural Resources. Refreshments will be served.
Funding and other opportunities
Monsanto Fund / National FFA

America’s Farmers Grow Ag Leaders, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund, engages future generations in agriculture by raising awareness of the industry's diverse career opportunities and by providing $1,500 scholarships that enable students to further their education. Grow Ag Leaders scholarships are administered by the National Future Farmers of America Organization.

Deadline: Feb. 1, 2018
About us
The Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska was founded in 2010 by the Robert B. Daugherty Foundation to address the global challenge of achieving food security with less stress on water resources through improved water management in agricultural and food systems. The institute is committed to ensuring a water and food secure world while maintaining the use of water for other human and environmental needs. 
waterforfood.nebraska.edu | +1 402.472.5145

The Nebraska Water Center, established by Congress in 1964, focuses on helping the University of Nebraska become an international leader in water research, teaching, extension and outreach by facilitating programs that will result in UNL becoming a premiere institution in the study of agricultural and domestic water use.
watercenter.unl.edu | +1 402.472.3305