The Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska is a national and international leader in water management and agricultural innovation.
For more than 15 years, the institute has been a strategic investment in Nebraska’s future, helping ensure clean and abundant water resources, supporting the livelihoods of farmers and ranchers, and strengthening the state’s agricultural economy. While its mission is global, much of its impact begins here at home: advancing research, technologies, and policies that ensure clean, sustainable water for agriculture, communities, and future generations across Nebraska.
The Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute anchors its global mission locally through the Nebraska Water Center, a key partner in advancing water and food security. Established in 1964 as one of 54 Congressionally mandated water research institutes, the Nebraska Water Center serves as a vital hub for state-focused water research, innovation and outreach. It's integration with DWFI in 2012 reflected a driving principle of our work: that global challenges in water and food security are deeply connected to local realities, including those in Nebraska. From water quality testing to shaping water policy, the center plays a critical role in protecting the state’s environmental, agricultural and community well-being. Together, the Nebraska Water Center and the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute leverage their shared expertise to expand research capacity and deliver practical, impactful solutions, improving lives both at home and around the world.
1. Protecting Nebraska's Water: Practical, Statewide Solutions
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The Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute and the Nebraska Water Center work to ensure a safe and abundant water future for Nebraska by tackling the state’s most pressing water quality and quantity challenges. Investment directly funds the science that protects groundwater in all 93 Nebraska counties and informs decisions in all 23 of Nebraska’s Natural Resources Districts (NRDs).
- Decisions grounded in science and reality: Research from the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute and Nebraska Water Center ensure water management decisions are grounded in science and shaped by on-the-ground realities.
- 30+ years of data to understand Nebraska groundwater health: The Nebraska Vadose Zone Program merges more than 30 years' worth of historical and current deep soil core data to provide the most comprehensive picture yet of how agrichemicals like nitrogen move through soil and into groundwater. NRD managers, Nebraska utility managers and policymakers use this depth of data to determine land use and management policies to ensure clean drinking water for all Nebraskans well into the future.
- Cutting edge water research and testing: The Water Sciences Laboratory, part of the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute and Nebraska Water Center, is a state-of-the-art water research facility on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s campus. The lab serves as a global leader in water quality testing and research and supports Nebraska’s Natural Resources Districts, state agencies, businesses, industry and citizens, as well as university research and federal and international entities.
- Collaborative solutions for the health of all Nebraskans: The Water, Climate and Health Program is a joint effort between the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute, the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Public Health and the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. This partnership ensures that Nebraska-specific issues are addressed with expertise in both agriculture and medicine. The program conducts and disseminates research on public health issues related to drinking water quality in Nebraska, while helping the state prepare for and mitigate health risks related to drought, heat, and changing weather patterns.
- International Collaboration with Nebraska Benefit: The Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute leads research that tests water and ag solutions in global settings and then applies those insights in Nebraska for a mutual learning benefit.
2. High-Impact Partnerships: Multiplying Investment
Investment in the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute and Nebraska Water Center acts as a crucial catalyst that maximizes the return on investment by attracting external resources and private support.
- Amplifying Impact: Strong core funding provides a crucial foundation and stability of resources, which attracts external grants and encourages future private-public partnerships, like the gift from the Robert B. Daugherty Foundation that established the institute in 2010. Additionally, the institute has successfully multiplied its state funding four-fold through outside sources.
- Federal and Private Partnerships: DWFI actively works with major agribusinesses, engineering firms, government agencies and federal partners to develop and fund scalable solutions in areas like remote sensing and irrigation efficiency.
3. Delivering on the University of Nebraska's Land-Grant Mission
The Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute is one of three system-wide institutes at the University of Nebraska, bringing together experts from all four campuses to develop innovative solutions to challenges facing our state, nation and world. DWFI addresses the complex challenges of water and food security, and its work directly supports the university's commitment to achieving local impact with global reach.
The institute is a natural extension of the University of Nebraska’s land-grant mission of teaching, research and public service to benefit our state’s people and resources. It maintains a close link with the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, leveraging IANR’s vast resources and expertise in agriculture and natural resources to achieve the institute’s mission.
- Workforce Development: The Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute and the Nebraska Water Center ensure a workforce pipeline by training the next generation of Nebraska’s water scientists and leaders. The institute connects students with water-focused research and applied learning opportunities in local industry, nonprofits, and state agencies, ensuring that the best minds stay in Nebraska to solve local problems.
- Amplified Student Funding: The institute helps University of Nebraska students gain expertise while contributing to real-world water and agriculture solutions right here in the state. Since the institute’s student support program was launched in 2014, almost all of its nearly $5 million in graduate student funding support has been matched one-to-one by faculty, doubling the impact of its investment in future talent.
- Partnering with Nebraska high schools on water quality testing: The Know Your Well project partners with over 30 high schools and colleges (including Doane and Chadron State) to teach hundreds of students how to collect and test water from local, private wells, building STEM skills and providing valuable water quality information to rural families across the state.
- Nebraska farmer training and resources: DWFI supports Nebraska Extension education, connecting directly with Nebraska farmers and ranchers to share best practices for managing water and improving crops. Tools developed for farmers by the institute use satellite data and real-time field measurements to monitor water use, improve crop planning, guide irrigation decisions and support resilience to increasing droughts and floods. Master Irrigator Nebraska, developed by the institute and Nebraska Extension, along with local industry partners, is a new, producer-led training series and agricultural innovation pipeline to help irrigators boost efficiency and sustainability.
The Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska supports a high-impact, high-value network that benefits every Nebraskan through more productive farms, safer water, a skilled workforce and a prosperous economy.