DWFI Policy team explores sustainable business models to scale Rwanda irrigation efforts
By Vivian Nguyen, program coordinator at the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute
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This fall, staff at DWFI launched a new research project in Rwanda. While Rwanda has an economy that is growing 8 percent each year, much of the population remains in poverty and goes to sleep hungry. As agriculture is the main economic driver in Rwanda, the Rwandan government has recognized the need to develop irrigation as a means to alleviate poverty, increase food security and mitigate risk from climate-induced droughts. Between now and 2024, the Rwandan government hopes to double the area that is irrigated. To achieve this goal, the government has been implementing and evaluating a variety of irrigation methods with farmers. In addition, there is a small but growing entrepreneurial community that is providing agronomic and irrigation services.
That's where DWFI comes in: this November, Nick Brozović, DWFI director of policy; Caleb Milliken, DWFI program associate; and Vivian Nguyen, DWFI program coordinator; traveled to Rwanda to learn more about the variety of business models being used for smallholder irrigation service provision. The team met with participants in irrigated agriculture, including government leaders, non-government (NGO) staff, entrepreneurs, and smallholder farmers to gain better understanding of what is happening on the ground in Rwanda. An important goal of the research is to use entrepreneurial tools and methods – such as a business model template – to understand the financial sustainability and scaling potential of the diverse range of existing irrigation provision business models.
"This was a very successful trip," said Brozović. “Everyone we met was passionate about irrigated agriculture, enthusiastic to share their ideas and experiences, and interested to help us understand key issues and context."
The team is producing reports and case studies on the business models reviewed, and will return to Rwanda in 2019 to continue their research. "We're also excited to incorporate the undergraduate students in our Water for Food Global SEEDS Learning Community into the research in Rwanda. This trip and the contacts we made are helping us plan a meaningful experience for our students to learn about international agricultural development through the lens of business and water entrepreneurship," said Brozović.
During their time in Rwanda, the DWFI team worked closely with Volta Irrigation, a group comprised of undergraduate students at the African Leadership University who believe farming is the main livelihood of the poor and a mainstay of many countries’ economies. Using mostly locally produced materials, Volta Irrigation has designed a low-cost, efficient and eco-friendly pumping system called “Alma Volta.” The system integrates an inverter, a battery, a pump and a stationary bicycle to produce energy for irrigation. With Alma Volta, a farmer can pull and push 400,000 liters of water, enough to irrigate 40 hectares of farmland, with just 20 minutes of pedaling. The system can be built and maintained by local farming cooperatives, who in turn expect to decrease the cost of irrigating their farmlands by 75 percent and increase their productivity 12 fold.
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DWFI program coordinator Vivian Nguyen tours the agricultural landscape to learn more about efforts to bring low-cost irrigation to Rwanda.
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DWFI program associate Caleb Milliken meets with the Volta Irrigation team to learn about their irrigation-as-a-service model for Rwandan smallholder farmers.
Credits: Vivian Nguyen
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DWFI Executive Director Peter McCornick elected to World Water Council board of governors
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The 8th General Assembly of the World Water Council (WWC) has elected Peter McCornick, executive director of the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute, to the council’s board of governors that will serve a three-year mandate until 2021. DWFI Director of Research Christopher Neale was elected as an alternate. The elections took place during the triennial General Assembly of WWC Members in Marseille, France, where more than 250 WWC governors and members from 40 countries gathered.
The board of governors of the World Water Council brings together 35 members representing the five Council colleges:
1. Intergovernmental institutions
2. Governments and Governmental Authorities,
3. Enterprises and Facilities,
4. Civil Society and Water Users Associations
5. Professional Associations and Academics.
DWFI is a member of the fifth college. The institute has actively participated in the World Water Forums held every three years in different international locations to advance water quality and sustainability. DWFI co-led the Water for Food track of the World Water Forum held in Brasilia, Brazil, in March of this year.
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WARI program, Indo-American partnerships result in India Water Workshops
By Daniel Snow, director, Nebraska Water Sciences Lab
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This November, Nebraska Water Center staff and DWFI Faculty Fellows contributed to two workshops in India organized by former Water Advanced Research Initiative (WARI) fellows.
The first workshop was a one-day international workshop on water and air quality research for societal health organized by 2017 WARI fellow, Paromita Chakraborty, and held at SRM Institute of Sciences and Technology in Chennai on November 13. Daniel Snow, director of the Water Sciences Lab, provided a plenary presentation on advanced methods for monitoring agroecosystem water quality. Other speakers from surrounding universities in India and Nepal presented research and monitoring technologies for water and air pollution, both of which have become severe throughout the country.
A second six-day workshop was co-organized by 2016 WARI fellow Rajeev Pratap Singh of Banaras Hindu University, DWFI Faculty Fellow Shannon Bartelt-Hunt, and former DWFI Fellow Alan Kolok, currently director of the Idaho Water Resources Institute. The workshop was funded by the India-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) with a theme of
The Water-Food-Energy-Climate Nexus: A perspective towards a sustainable future. Held November 16-21 at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi, the goal was to address societal challenges in providing water, food and energy security in the future and how the nexus between water-food-energy-climate can be used to address sustainability challenges. Presenters from the U.S. included Jesse Bell, professor of health and environment at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health; Chittaranjan Ray, director of the Nebraska Water Center; Yusong Li, DWFI Faculty Fellow and associate professor of the UNL Civil Engineering Department.
The WFEC-2018 workshop included scientists and scholars from across India and covered topics ranging from water scarcity in India to agricultural and urban water pollution and climate change. Nearly 80 attendees and presenters contributed to a successful workshop at BHU paving the way for building new collaborative efforts between India and U.S. scientists and engineers in the areas of water, food and energy sustainability under increasing stress from climate change.
Both workshops are outcomes of the Water Advanced Research and Innovation (WARI) Fellowship Program developed to foster long-term Indo-American science and technology partnerships and co-sponsored by DWFI and the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum. The WARI program began in 2016 and was recently approved for continuation through 2022.
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More than 80 participants were involved in a water-energy-food-climate workshop at Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, India from November 16-21. Participants included faculty from University of Nebraska and was supported by DWFI and a grant from IUSSTF.
Credit: Daniel Snow
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Gibson graduates from Nebraska Water Leaders Academy
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Kate Gibson recently graduated with the eighth class of the Nebraska Water Leaders Academy, a one-year program that provides leadership training and educates participants about the vital role of rivers, streams and aquifers in the economic sustainability of the State of Nebraska.
A native of Pickerell, Nebraska, she is employed as program coordinator with the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. She is a graduate of the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of Science Degree in water science and a Master of Science in agronomy.
A project of the Water Futures Partnership-Nebraska, academy sessions feature classroom as well as field trip experiences presented by experts in leadership and natural resource topics held at locations across the state.
The Water Leaders Academy is partially funded through a grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust and more than 25 other organizations and individuals.
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Groundwater trading report developed by DWFI, Mammoth Trading, Environmental Defense Fund
Contributions by Nick Brozović, DWFI director of policy
DWFI, Mammoth Trading and the Environmental Defense Fund developed a report on using groundwater trading as a tool for implementing California's sustainable groundwater management act.
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Low pressure center pivot ages gracefully with technology advances, widespread adoption
By Alexandra Hoskins for the Texas Water Resources Institute
Published in the Fall 2018 txH2O publication
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An article in the Texas Water Resources Institute's quarterly publication highlights the early days of center pivot irrigation, including Robert Daugherty's purchase of the rights to Frank Zybach's designs in 1953. Daugherty increased center pivot's reliability, upgraded the motor to electric and sold the improved system through his company, Valley Manufacturing (now
Valmont Industries
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This 1969 Valmont Industries, Inc. brochure illustrates past center pivot irrigation models.
Credit: Irrigation Museum, Irrigation Association
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Assessing landscape scale heterogeneity in irrigation water use with remote sensing and in-situ monitoring
By Timothy Foster, University of Manchester Water-Food Security Lecturer; Ivo Zution Gonçalves, DWFI post-doctoral research associate; Isidro Campos, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha researcher; Christopher M.U Neale, DWFI director of research; and Nicholas Brozović, DWFI director of policy
Understanding how irrigation is used across agricultural landscapes is essential to support efforts to grow more food while reducing pressures on limited freshwater resources. However, to date, few studies have analyzed the underlying spatial and temporal variability in farmers' individual water use decisions at a landscape scale. This study compared estimates of irrigation water requirements using state-of-the-art remote sensing models with metered abstraction records for 1,400 fields over a 13-year period in Nebraska.
The study shows that farmers' water use decisions often diverge significantly from estimates of crop irrigation requirements. The study also found that in any individual year, farmers' water use exhibits large field-to-field variability, which cannot be explained fully by differences in weather, soil type, crop choice, or technology. The results highlight the value of using both in-situ monitoring and remote sensing to evaluate farmers' individual water use behavior and understand likely responses to future changes in climate or water policy. The findings demonstrate potential challenges for current efforts in developed and developing countries to apply model-based approaches for field-level water use accounting and enforcement of irrigation water rights.
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Irrigation consortium to help equip farms of the future
By Kathy Wythe for the Texas Water Resources Institute
Published in the Fall 2018 txH2O publication
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Four universities, including the University of Nebraska, are part of the Ogallala Aquifer Program and the Ogallala Water Coordinated Agriculture Project are involved in the Irrigation Innovation Consortium, a collaborative research effort to accelerate the development and adoption of practical water- and energy-efficient irrigation technologies and practices through public-private partnerships.
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Nebraska's IANR Quarterly Newsletter Highlights
The work of DWFI, the Nebraska Water Center and the Water Sciences Lab was recently featured in several articles in this quarterly report produced by the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska.
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Nebraska Water Center updates
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Sneak Preview: Water Tour heads to Yellowstone/Missouri River Headwaters
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Save the dates of Sept. 15-20 for the 2019 Water and Natural Resources Tour. The tour will explore the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers in Southern Montana and Northwest Wyoming.
Organizers Jeff Buettner of the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District and Crystal Powers of the Nebraska Water Center spent a week making connections for the upcoming tour. They traveled to Yellowstone National Park, the headwaters of the Missouri River, Big Sky, Montana, Buffalo Bill dam and other irrigation projects. The Water Tour provides an opportunity to hear straight from the farmers, ranchers, community leaders, agencies, and researchers actively involved in managing the wealth of natural resources found there. The annual tour is organized by the Nebraska Water Center and Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District. Stay tuned for updates.
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Missouri River Headwaters.
Credit: Crystal Powers
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Big Sky, Montana.
Credit: BigSky.org
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University of Wyoming, Powell Research and Extension Center
Credit: University of Wyoming
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James Schnable, Faculty Fellow and assistant professor of agronomy and horticulture at UNL
Schnable is part of a research team studying ways to reduce nitrogen fertilizer use without sacrificing yield or profit. They are developing plant breeds with the ability to use nitrogen more efficiently than today's crops, reducing cost and environmental impacts.
Paul Black, Faculty Fellow and biochemist and department chair of biochemisty at UNL
UNL biochemist Paul Black has been named a 2018 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society. Fellows are selected by their peers for scientifically or socially distinguished achievements that advance science or its applications.
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Course explores water security and the Arab-Israeli Conflict
The future of peace in the Middle East and the world depends heavily on access to water and water management. Although water scarcity is often a contentious issue, there have also been important examples of cooperation related to water and other natural resources. The "Water Security and the Arab-Israeli Conflict" course (JUDS 492) will explore water use in Israel and its relationships with its neighbors as the main case study, but will also include study of other regions, such as Southeast Asia.
The course will be held during the Spring 2019 semester. The class is taught by Prof. Jean Axelrad Cahan and held Wednesdays 5:30-7:30 p.m. JUDS 492 is a pre-requisite for an optional 10-day trip to Israel in May 2019.
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Call for DWFI Faculty Fellows
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Faculty Fellows are faculty within the University of Nebraska system who contribute to the institute’s research, scholarship, engagement and education programs. Faculty Fellow status gives formal recognition of an individual’s accomplishments and expertise and includes the Fellow in a community of faculty with complementary interests. It is intended for faculty who collaborate with the institute for a sustained period of time. Appointments are non-salaried and made for one year, beginning January 1.
If you know or work with faculty who may be a good fit for this honor, please contact Rachael Herpel, DWFI assistant director at
rherpel@nebraska.edu for more information.
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World Soil Day
December 5, 2018
DWFI Closed - University Holiday Break
December 24, 2018-January 1, 2019
Nebraska Water Center Spring Seminar Series
All held 3:30-4:30 p.m. in the first floor auditorium inside Hardin Hall on East Campus
January 16, 2019
January 30, 2019
February 13, 2019
February 27, 2019
March 13, 2019
April 3, 2019
April 17, 2019
Water for Food Faculty/Student Research Forum
April 4, 2019
Water for Food Global Conference
April 29-30, 2019
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Staff
Alex Bordignon
Visiting Research Scholar, DWFI
Alex Bordignon is a visiting research scholar from ESALQ-USP, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Bordignon spent the past four months completing his undergraduate research thesis in agricultural engineering. His thesis studied the use of remote sensing and the SETMI model in estimating the evapotranspiration of a large soybean crop in the MATOPIBA region of Brazil. Bordignon presented his results to DWFI staff and partners at a recent lunch-and-learn session.
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Faculty Fellow
James Schnable
Assistant Professor of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
James Schnable's research group (Schnable Lab) works on developing new methods of combining information from corn, sorghum, and related orphan crops and wild species to identify genetic changes that alter crop traits important to farmers and food traits important to consumers. Working closely with computer scientists, statisticians, engineers and applied plant breeders, his research group develops quantitative genetic and high throughput phenotyping techniques to analyze novel types of data, including high throughput RGB and hyperspectral imagery collected from plants on a daily basis and parallel genome wide association studies in corn, sorghum and foxtail millet.
In addition to being an assistant professor and DWFI Faculty Fellow, Schnable is also part of the Nebraska Food for Health Center, Center for Plant Science and Innovation, and Quantitative Life Sciences Initiative, and has founded two startups – Data2Bio and Dryland Genetics – the latter focused on bringing the rapid gains in yield potential produced by modern crop breeding methods to water use efficient orphan crops.
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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.
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.
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