MUSIC
We are sitting atop one of the major
aquifer resources on the planet.
And you're also gonna have to think about feeding
the world, not just the U.S.
Perhaps it's the other inconvenient truth that it's not
only a challenge of producing enough food, but
it's to produce enough food in a way that also
protects environmental quality and
natural ecosystems.
MUSIC
Narrator: A precious but shrinking resource.
An expanding population.
A changing climate.
The global challenge in the 21st century
is how to grow more with less.
Sally Mackenzie: So now you're going to feed the
world with new challenges and you're gonna feed
the world under conditions where we need
more than we ever needed before.
Narrator: The paths to solutions are being paved
by the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute
at the University of Nebraska.
The institute was established in 2010 thanks to a
generous $50-million gift from the Robert B. Daugherty Charitable Foundation
J.B. Milliken: This is a place where Nebraska and the University of Nebraska
and the Daugherty Foundation can make an enormous difference.
Narrator: Nebraska is an idea laboratory for research and
education on the challenges of water for food. The state
has the most irrigated acres of farmland in the country
and a climate that varies from sub-humid to semi-arid.
John Gates: We've got all the resources in place that are needed
for world-class research and teaching on water resources.
Narrator: From water and climate research, to agriculture and public policy,
the Water for Food Institute helps the world prepare for
an unknown future.
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Nebraska sits atop a vast underground water reservoir.
The Ogalalla Aquifer gives life to the fields above it.
A Nebraska scientist studies groundwater in Nebraska
and all over the world, using environmental traces that
tell us how groundwater moves around.
John Gates: An understanding of the way groundwater flows is an
essential underpinning of sustainable agriculture that's
dependent on irrigation.
Narrator: Using sophisticated tools in the field, Suat Irmak
measures evapotranspiration, water loss from plants and soil.
Suat Irmak: Water is the life support of irrigated and dryland agriculture.
So it is important for us to know what is the evapotranspiration
rate for different vegetation surfaces to make better informed
decisions in terms of water resources planning and
management and allocations.
Narrator: Tomorrow's problems are solved by today's innovation.
Engineers and computer scientists work on wireless
underground sensor networks that tell irrigation systems
when and where to water and how much.
Mehmet Can Vuran: Our goal eventually is to make the soil t
ell us what to do instead of having to guess.
Narrator: The Water Optimizer is a tool that helps growers
determine the most efficient and profitable way to use
a limited allocation of water.
Derrel Martin: We can maybe help growers get to the right
decision faster and maybe provide them
with a less costly alternative to get there.
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Narrator: Predicting the future sometimes means looking
to the past. That's the job of University of Nebraska
paleoecologist Shari Fritz.
Core samples from lake sediments produce a geologic
record that tells the story of so-called mega-droughts,
that were longer and more severe than the Dust Bowl.
Shari Fritz: We can study the past to understand how
systems respond to rapid climate change, how resillient
is the hydrologic system. So by studying the past we hope we
have a more complete understanding of how the system
works and how resilient it is.
Narrator: Nebraska is home to the High Plains Regional
Climate Center, one of six federally funded centers in the
nation. The center collects climate and weather data,
monitors soil and drought, and predicts the impact of
climate change on crop production.
Martha Shulski: Climate data and information is
very, very important and climate monitoring, understanding
when you might be going into a drought, for example.
Narrator: The National Drought Mitigation Center helps
governments and organizations develop strategies.
Don Wilhite: We are by far the leading university in the world,
the leading institution in terms of things like preparedness,
drough monitoring, mitigation, policy formation. So the
world really looks to the University of Nebraska and the
National Drought Mitigation Center to provide that leadership,
to provide that expertise.
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Narrator: To cope with climate change and limited resources,
Nebraska scientists develop drought resistant crops that
move from the lab to the field.
Sally Mackenzie: We've built the capability to engineer crops
for nutrition, for bio-energy traits, for traits that help them to
grow against adverse conditions, drought tolerance.
Ed Cahoon: We think that the basic discoveries that we make
can then be applied to crop plants and tested in the field and
then have an impact both in the United States but also for
people in developing countries where drought is an
on-going problem.
Narrator: University of Nebraska agronomist Ken Cassman
and his colleagues are developing a way to measure the
yield gap, the difference between the average yield per
acre and the potential crop yield.
Ken Cassman: We could create a global atlas of food
production potential that has never been produced before.
Narrator: The atlas would be used by policy makers and
researchers to identify under-performing areas and figure
out how to increase yield, and still protect precious
natural resources.
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As the clamor for water builds, the University of Nebraska
navigates a sea of legal and policy issues that affect supply.
Anthony Shultz: What we've done is we've created rules and
institutions that purport to work in all of those different areas.
So by studying Nebraska you can get lessons
for a variety of different folks operating under a variety
of different conditions.
Narrator: The next generation of water scientists is
trained at Nebraska.
Graduate students study resilience and adaptive management
strategies for stressed watersheds in the United States
and Europe.
Craig Allen: Our students should come out with an explicit
understanding of the inter-disciplinary nature of water and
other resource challenges for the future and with training in
how to address some of those problems.
Narrator: Nebraska leads the way for other countries
struggling with competing needs for water.
Jim Goeke: The elements of how we can use water
sustainably and as efficiently as possible, is a message that
can be transferred anywhere in the world.
John Gates: The University of Nebraska is a perfect place for
something like the International Water for Food Institute.