Workshop: Addressing the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water in the Context of Societal Challenges, Mar 1-3, 2017, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

[1664375]粮食安全是人类文明面临的下一个重大挑战，因为目前世界人口为70亿，预计到2050年将增加到90多亿。美国将面临生产更多粮食和饲料用于出口的压力，这将使其能源和水资源紧张，并影响生态系统服务。为期三天的研讨会将汇集来自农学、农业经济和贸易政策、水资源科学/工程、大气科学和自然资源管理等领域的专家，进一步研究这些问题，并在可持续性和水生产力的背景下提出新的建议。该研讨会将于2017年3月1日至3日在印度班加罗尔（印度科学研究所校园）举行。农业强度、过度抽水和气候（降雨）变化正在使美国和世界各地的许多区域含水层系统紧张。本次研讨会将解决如何在当前抽水压力下更好地平衡对这些含水层的需求的紧迫问题，并帮助确定应对未来气候变化所必需的种植管理系统。这项合作将使美国和印度的研究人员能够分享研究和专业知识，旨在解决用更少的水和能源生产更多粮食的挑战，同时保护稀缺淡水资源的质量，供人类消费和生态系统服务。研究人员将受益于在食物-能源-水关系方面获得国际科学观点以及社会经济学观点。研讨会的成果将推动全国对食品-能源-水关系创新的讨论，NSF已为此投入了大量资金。本次研讨会的主要目标是解决下个世纪人类饮食方面的社会挑战，以及如何利用食物、水和能源之间的联系来应对可持续性挑战。尽管由于机械化规模、资源可用性和其他因素，这些挑战在印度和美国有所不同，但研讨会将讨论这些挑战的异同，以制定互利的解决方案。讲习班的具体目标包括：1。在印度和美国的环境中，确定创新的方法来提高水和能源的使用效率。了解食品、能源和水系统中的关系概念如何成为经济和社会决策的驱动力。为了解决粮食安全问题，研究人员已经开始估算当前产量缺口，即当前产量与最佳管理条件下可获得的最大产量之间的差异。目前正在努力在全球范围内进行产量差距分析，以划定有可能提高作物产量的地区。为了分析粮食作物增产的可持续性（无论是在美国还是在世界其他地方），需要以逐步的方式做以下工作：(1)通过具有最佳管理方案的作物模型和选择适当的作物杂交品种来分析特定作物或一系列作物的产量差距；(2)在产量缺口的不同情景下，估算出离开根区的水分和养分通量；(3)利用适当的数值模型，根据抽水需求和水、养分返回通量估算地下水位变化、河流枯竭和含水层水质变化；(4)模拟灌溉系统的最优用电量。本次研讨会将引导开发现实和可转让的管理方案、工具和技术，以应对粮食、能源和水安全方面的社会挑战。我们鼓励研究生、博士后以及处于职业生涯早期阶段的研究人员参加。研讨会的会议记录将以电子形式发布，并由内布拉斯加州水中心通过通讯、新闻稿和两次年度赞助的教师务虚会与潜在的利益相关者广泛分享。

1664375RayFood security is civilization's next critical challenge, as the current world population of seven billion is projected to increase to more than nine billion by 2050. The United States (US) will face pressure to produce more food and feed for export, straining its energy and water resources and impacting ecosystem services. This three-day workshop will bring together experts from the fields of agronomy, agricultural economics and trade policy, water resources science/engineering, atmospheric sciences, and natural resource management to further investigate the issues and to develop new recommendations in the context of sustainability and water productivity. The workshop will be held in Bangalore, India (at the campus of the Indian Institute of Science), March 1 - 3, 2017.Intensity of agriculture, excess pumping, and climatic (rainfall) shifts are straining many regional aquifer systems in the US and around the world. This workshop will address the pressing questions of how to better balance demands on these aquifers under the current pumping stresses, and help identify the cropping management systems that will be necessary to cope with future climatic shifts. The collaboration will enable US and Indian researchers to share research and expertise aimed at solving the challenges of producing more food with less water and energy, while protecting the quality of scarce freshwater resources for human consumption and ecosystem services. The researchers will benefit from receiving international science perspectives as well as socio-economics perspectives at the nexus of food-energy-water. The outcomes of the workshop will advance national discussion about innovations at the nexus of food-energy-water, for which NSF has committed significant investments. The main goal of the proposed workshop is to address societal challenges in feeding humanity in the coming century and how the nexus between food, water and energy can be exploited to address sustainability challenges. Although these challenges are different in India and United States because of the scale of mechanization, resources availability, and other factors, the workshop will address differences and similarities in these challenges to develop mutually beneficial solutions. The specific objectives of the workshop include: 1. Identify innovative methods to improve water and energy use efficiency in the context of the nexus in both Indian and US settings, 2. Understand how the nexus concept in the food, energy and water systems can be a driver in economic and social decision making. To address food security issues, researchers have started to estimate current yield gaps, which represent the difference between current yield and the maximum yield that can be obtained under optimum management conditions. Efforts are underway to develop a yield gap analysis on a global scale to delineate areas where there is potential to increase crop yields. In order to analyze the sustainability of enhanced production of food crops (whether in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world) one needs to do the following in a step-wise manner: (1) analyze the yield gap for a given crop or suite of crops through crop modeling with optimal management scenarios and selection of proper crop hybrids; (2) for various scenarios in yield gap, estimate the water and nutrient fluxes leaving the root zone; (3) using appropriate numerical models, estimate the groundwater level changes, stream depletion, and changes in water quality in the aquifer based on the pumping needs and return fluxes of water and nutrients; and, (4) simulate optimal power use for irrigation systems. This workshop will lead to development of realistic and transferable management scenarios, tools and technologies to address societal challenges in food, energy and water security. Graduate students and postdocs as well as researchers that are in early stages of their careers will be encouraged to participate. The proceedings from the workshop will be published in electronic form, and widely shared by the Nebraska Water Center with potential stakeholders through newsletters, press releases and two annual sponsored faculty retreats.