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Organization : Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska
Acronym: : DWFI
Nationality of the organisation of establishment : United States of America Year of establishment : 2010
college to which your organisation belongs to :
College 5:Professional and academic organisations
Scope of your organisation : International
 Are you organiation's activities focused primarily on water and sanitation ? : Yes No
Please indicate your organisation's field(s) of expertise and activities :
  • Water resources management
  • Basic Human needs or health
  • Development or infrastructure
  • Climate or natural hazards
  • Environment or ecosystems
  • Water supply or sanitation
  • Agriculture or food production
  • Human rights or social issues
  • Education or capacity building
  • Human settlements or habitats
  • Regulation and governance
  • Economics or finance
  • Research or development
  • Energy or industry
  • Media awareness
  • International cooperation or humanitarian relief
You may specify your activities by providing a list of more precise keywords:
Description of your Organisation's activities : The daunting issues surrounding water and food are globally important. Located in one of the world’s major farmland regions, with a long history of successfully managing groundwater and surface water resources, and in a state known for its technological and institutional innovation, DWFI leverages the university’s expertise and extends it through strong international partnerships with other universities, businesses, non-governmental organizations and foundations, and government agencies. It works through research and policy development, education and communication to enhance knowledge, build capacity and develop effective techniques to sustainably manage water and increase food security. DWFI’s program focuses on impact areas that are vital to water and food security: • Closing water and agricultural productivity gaps, building on the pioneering work of the Global Yield Gap and Water Productivity Atlas, as well as the university’s expertise in plant breeding and biotechnology development, to reduce productivity gaps in crop and livestock systems. • Improving groundwater management for agricultural production, drawing on the vast experience of Nebraska’s water governance institutions and farmers, focusing on scientific and policy research to improve understanding of the human and natural dynamics of groundwater. • Enhancing high productivity irrigated agriculture, working in partnership with the private sector, NGOs and social entrepreneurial groups to provide research, technology transfer, education and outreach to further the goal of increasing water productivity in all forms of irrigated agriculture. • Supporting freshwater and agricultural ecosystems and public health, ensuring that efforts to improve water and food security also advance public health and protect ecosystem integrity. • Managing agricultural drought, advancing drought monitoring and mitigation to build resilient agricultural systems. In addition to this, DWFI convenes the annual Water for Food Global Conference, and, specific events to focus on key issues and opportunities in water for food, such as the Water for Food International Forum: Farmer-led Irrigated Agriculture - Seeds of Opportunity, which was co-hosted by the World Bank, USAID and USDA in January 2018.

Governor representative :
First Name : Peter Last Name : McCornick
Title : Prof. Position : Executive Director
Nationality : United States of America Gender : Male Female
Email : PMcCornick@nebraska.edu
background : Peter G. McCornick is the executive director of the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI) at the University of Nebraska, where he leads the institute to deliver on its vision of a water and food secure world, building its partnerships and collaborations in Nebraska, nationally in the US, and other key food producing regions in the world. He is also a tenured professor in the Department of Biosystems Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Prior to joining DWFI in August 2016, Peter was the deputy director general of research at the International Water Management Institute in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Throughout his career, he has focused on improving the sustainable management of water resources. He has led inter-disciplinary research and development programs on water, agriculture and the environment in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Canada and the U.S. His interest areas include water and food security, the water-food-energy nexus, water reuse, irrigation management, and water and climate adaptation. He earned his bachelors from the University of Newcastle, and his masters and doctorate in agricultural engineering from Colorado State University. He is a licensed professional civil engineer in the State of Colorado, and a member of the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers.

Alternate representative :
First Name : Christoper Last Name : Neale
Title : Prof. Postion : Director of Research
Nationality : Brazil Gender :
Email : CNeale@Nebraska.edu
background : Dr. Christopher Neale is Director of Research for the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska where he oversees the Institute’s research programs, engaging faculty and global fellows in new projects and initiating partnerships with organizations and universities worldwide. He is also Professor in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Neale has over 30 years of experience in irrigation water management and applied remote sensing to agricultural and natural resources. While at Utah State University (USU) he developed an airborne multispectral digital system to acquire high-resolution imagery for numerous monitoring applications, managing the research aircraft while Director of the Remote Sensing Services Laboratory for over 20 years. Applications included the mapping of riparian and wetland systems, urban landscape water use, crop evapotranspiration estimation and modeling irrigation water demand. He also developed and taught a course on Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces, Irrigation Hydrology and Operation and Maintenance of Irrigation and Drainage Systems. He has been involved in several overseas technical assistance and transfer projects in Latin America and Africa in the areas of irrigation engineering and water management as well as resource mapping. In the Dominican Republic, he directed a large project funded by the Inter-American Development Bank, which involved mapping all the irrigated areas of the country, producing cadaster maps and irrigation infrastructure maps required for the transfer of the irrigation systems to Water User Associations. He has over 80 journal publications and 100 conference and symposium papers and presentations. He is presently the Past-President of the International Commission on Remote Sensing of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) and Chair of the SPIE Remote Sensing Symposium 2018 and 2019. He also member of ASABE, ASCE, AGU and ASPRS where he has been involved in multiple functions.

Organisation statement:
Please describe the involvement of your organisation within the World Water Council and state how long it has been involved in World Water Council activities : DWFI became a member of the WWC soon after the institute was formed in 2010, and subsequently has been an active participant in board meetings, key events and the respective World Water Forums. At the 7th World Water Forum in Korea in 2015, DWFI led a session, hosted a booth and participated in a number of other sessions. For the 8th World Water Forum, held in Brasilia, Brazil, March 18-23, DWFI, along with Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), was invited by the WWC to co-coordinate the Water for Food track with the. The institute was involved with eight sessions and co-coordinated: Soil and Water Conservation Practices; Water for Food Processing, Waste Reduction, Optimization and Reuse; Floods, Droughts, Wind, Fire: Building Resilient Agricultural Systems. The institute also convened the High-Level Panel on Water for Food, moderated by Executive Director Peter G. McCornick, featuring five international water and agriculture leaders: • Blairo Maggi, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply of Brazil • Claudia Sadoff, director general, International Water Management Institute • Celestino Zanella, president, Association of Farmers and Irrigators of Bahia, Brazil (AIBA) • Isabel García Tejerina, Minister of Agriculture Fisheries, Food and Environment of Spain • Mauricio Antonio Lopes, president, EMBRAPA, The Federal Agricultural Research Agency of Brazil DWFI also convened a side event to discuss ways in which organizations can support farmer-led agricultural production, including access to irrigation for small-scale farms. This meeting was a direct outcome of the Water for Food International Forum held in Washington, DC in January preceding the World Water Forum.
For what reasons do you wish your organisation to have a seat on the Board of Governors ? DWFI’s vision is a food and water secure world, with a mission of producing a lasting and significant impact towards these goals. We work closely with key partners on catalyzing and developing technical, management and policy solutions, including at the regional and international level that address these inter-related critical global challenges. The World Water Council is an especially important international platform to engage and convene political leaders and other high-level decision makers towards addressing these challenges. DWFI has contributed extensively to such processes as part the World Water Forums and other WWC events, especially to facilitate the interconnections between the sectors. As a board member, we would continue to work with our WWC partners to convene and facilitate such events, while also bring further emphasis to the water and food inter-sectoral challenges, and strengthening WWC to deliver on its mission.