Message from the Executive Director
Learn about Executive Director Roberto Lenton’s plans to advance the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute and increase global engagement on issues related to water for food.
Vision and mission
Vision
The Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute at the University of Nebraska is a research, policy analysis and education institute committed to helping the world efficiently use its limited freshwater resources, with a particular focus on ensuring the food supply for current and future generations.
Mission
The mission of the Water for Food Institute is to:
- Conduct research, policy analysis and educational programs on the efficiency and sustainability of water use in agriculture, the quantity and quality of water resources, and the human issues that affect the water decision-making process.
- Create strong partnerships and an extensive knowledge base to develop innovative, effective solutions to the global challenge of growing more food with less water.
- Increase water productivity in agriculture in both developed and developing nations through new technologies, novel and improved crops, innovative management practices and studies of the human dimensions of water use.
- Develop advanced decision-making tools and knowledge delivery systems to inform and guide policymakers, managers and the public in managing water resources.
- Educate the human talent necessary to accomplish this mission.
Overview
The Water for Food Institute was established in April 2010 with a $50 million founding gift commitment from the Robert B. Daugherty Charitable Foundation to the University of Nebraska. The WFI will conduct research, policy analysis and educational programs on the efficiency and sustainability of water use in agriculture, the quantity and quality of water resources, and the human issues that affect the water decision-making process. Because these issues have been long been, and continue to be, the focus of University of Nebraska research, the knowledge and capabilities developed in Nebraska can be shared and applied internationally. Nebraska can learn, in turn, from its regional, national and global partners.
Objectives
The Institute’s work will focus on fundamental and applied research to provide the knowledge base for effective, practical solutions to the challenges of managing water quantity and quality and increasing food production in a world with rapidly rising demands for water and finite resources. A major research emphasis will be improving the efficiency of water use in agriculture through the development of new technologies, innovative management practices and improved crops, for both the developed and developing world. Cooperative research programs with organizations working internationally will extend WFI’s reach globally. Important aspects of the Institute’s work include generating the information and building the tools needed to guide decision-making about management of water quantity and quality by managers, consumers and the public and to inform policymaking at all levels.
Leadership
Roberto Lenton
Executive Director
Read more about Dr. Lenton.
Board of Directors
James B. Milliken, Chairman
President, University of Nebraska
Mogens Bay
Chairman, Robert B. Daugherty Charitable Foundation
Jeff Raikes
CEO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
DWFI Staff
Roberto Lenton
Executive Director
Monica Norby
Associate Director
Suat Irmak
Interim Director, Nebraska Water Center
Marc Andreini
Senior Research Scientist
Rachael Herpel
Education/Outreach Coordinator
Jesse Starita
Education/Outreach Specialist
Janet Means
Administrative Associate
Faculty Advisory Board
Charlie J. Bicak
Senior Vice Chancellor, Academic and Student Affairs
University of Nebraska at Kearney
Kenneth G. Cassman
Professor, Agronomy and Horticulture
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Bruce Dvorak
Interim Chair, Civil Engineering
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Ayman El-Mohandes
Dean, College of Public Health
University of Nebraska Medical Center
Ronnie D. Green
Vice President, University of Nebraska
Harlan Vice Chancellor, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Sherilyn Fritz
Professor, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Lilyan E. Fulginiti
Professor, Agricultural Economics
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
John Gates
Assistant Professor, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Steve Goddard
Department Chair, Computer Science and Engineering
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Mark Lagrimini
Professor, Agronomy and Horticulture
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Harmon D. Maher
Professor, Department of Geography and Geology
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Scott D. Snyder
Associate Vice Chancellor for Research
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Donald A. Wilhite
Director, School of Natural Resources
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Ronald E. Yoder
Associate Vice Chancellor, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Sandi B. Zellmer
Professor, Law
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
History
The Water for Food Institute was established in April 2010 with a $50 million founding gift commitment from the Robert B. Daugherty Charitable Foundation to the University of Nebraska, one of the largest gifts in the university’s history. Mr. Daugherty, who died in November 2010, was the founder of Valmont Industries in Omaha, the most successful irrigation company in the world, and held a deep commitment to the efficient and sustainable use of water to feed a growing world population. In recognition of Mr. Daugherty’s generous founding gift, the University of Nebraska Board of Regents in March 2011 approved changing the name of the institute to the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute.
The Challenge. Lack of water is a constraint to producing food for millions of people in the world today. Over the past 50 years, dramatic increases in agricultural productivity driven by improved crop varieties, fertilizer use and the doubling of irrigated land kept pace with population growth. Agriculture now consumes more than 70 percent of the world’s freshwater resources, the vast majority used for irrigating crops. By 2050 the world’s population is expected to increase 40 percent and the demand for food and feed will double. This escalating need for agriculture to produce food, feed, fiber and fuel will exert intense pressure on the world’s water resources.
Water shortages already are occurring in many of the world’s major food production areas, and burgeoning municipal and industrial demands are shifting more water away from agriculture. At a time when agriculture must produce more food for a growing population, water supplies are stretched to meet increasing demands even as a changing global climate holds unknown risks. The possibility of global food scarcity if demand outstrips supply is a potentially significant threat, mitigated only by our ability to grow more food with less water.
The daunting issues surrounding water for food – overuse, underuse and inefficient use; sustainability of the resource; degradation of supplies; distribution and demand conflicts; legal and institutional barriers to management – are globally important Many organizations in government, academia and the private sector are working to address global water issues and improve crop production systems – each addressing a particular piece of a complex puzzle. The Water for Food Institute is intended to catalyze a focused global effort to bring together expertise from many disciplines to conduct research focused on producing more food per unit of water. A major emphasis of WFI research will be on increasing yields using less water in high-producing agricultural systems and producing the human talent necessary to advance food production while managing water resources.
The Opportunity. For more than a century the University of Nebraska has been a leader in research on water, agriculture and the management of critical natural resources. This leadership grew naturally from Nebraska’s position as a steward of vast natural resources. The native grasslands and farmlands of Nebraska comprise one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world – a level of production made possible by a wealth of water resources including the Platte River and the High Plains Aquifer, the largest aquifer in North America. These resources enable the state’s irrigated crop production, placing it first in the U.S. in irrigated crop acres and fourth in food production, and giving Nebraska global significance as a food producer. Center pivot irrigation systems were invented in Nebraska and the world’s four largest pivot manufacturers are now headquartered here. The state is a leader in innovative policies to manage and conserve surface and groundwater resources.
This strong knowledge base developed by the public and private sectors, coupled with a long history of research, education and outreach focused on water and agriculture, positioned the University of Nebraska to establish the Water for Food Institute. The WFI and its partners have the diverse expertise to contribute innovative solutions to the global challenges of growing more food with less water and managing limited water resources in a hungry and thirsty world.
The University of Nebraska
Founded in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1869, the University of Nebraska (NU) is a four-campus, public university that serves the citizens of Nebraska through quality teaching, research, outreach and engagement. One of the early land-grant universities, founded less than two years after Nebraska became the nation’s 37th state, NU is the state’s only public university. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln was the first institution west of the Mississippi River to offer graduate education. The university’s medical center in Omaha was founded in 1902 and given its own campus by legislative act in 1968 at the same time that the University of Nebraska at Omaha was added to the university. In 1991, the University of Nebraska at Kearney became a campus of the university. Today, the University of Nebraska system has a total enrollment of 50,000 students, 4,500 faculty and an annual budget of $1.8 billion. The four campuses that make up the NU system are:
University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the state’s land grant and comprehensive research institution
University of Nebraska Medical Center, the state’s only public academic health sciences center
University of Nebraska at Omaha, acomprehensive metropolitan university in the state’s largest city
University of Nebraska at Kearney, a public, residential, mid-sized, comprehensive university in central Nebraska emphasizing undergraduate education
With a total enrollment of 50,000 students and an employee base of 13,000 individuals, NU is one of the largest universities in the country.
