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

粮食安全是人类文明面临的下一个关键挑战，目前世界人口为70亿，预计到2050年将增加到90亿以上。美国将面临生产更多粮食和饲料以供出口的压力，这将使其能源和水资源紧张，并影响生态系统服务。这次为期三天的讲习班将汇集来自农学、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，以进一步调查这些问题，并在可持续发展和水资源生产率方面提出新的建议。研讨会将于2017年3月1日至3日在印度班加罗尔(印度科学学院校园)举行。农业强度、过量抽水和气候(降雨)变化使美国和世界各地的许多地区含水层系统变得紧张。这次研讨会将讨论如何在当前的抽水压力下更好地平衡对这些含水层的需求这一紧迫问题，并帮助确定应对未来气候变化所需的种植管理制度。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，同时保护用于人类消费和生态系统服务的稀缺淡水资源的质量。研究人员将受益于获得国际科学观点以及食品-能源-水关系的社会经济学观点。研讨会的成果将推动关于食品-能源-水关系的创新的全国性讨论，美国国家科学基金会已承诺对此进行大量投资。拟议讲习班的主要目标是解决下个世纪在养活人类方面的社会挑战，以及如何利用粮食、水和能源之间的联系来应对可持续性挑战。尽管由于机械化的规模、资源的可获得性和其他因素，这些挑战在印度和美国是不同的，但研讨会将解决这些挑战中的差异和相似之处，以制定互惠互利的解决方案。讲习班的具体目标包括：1.在印度和美国的环境中确定提高水和能源利用效率的创新方法；2.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计当前的产量差距，即当前产量与在最佳管理条件下可以获得的最高产量之间的差额。目前正在努力在全球范围内进行产量差距分析，以确定哪些地区有可能提高作物产量。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)，人们需要循序渐进地进行以下工作：(1)通过优化管理方案和选择合适的杂交作物，通过作物模拟分析给定作物或一系列作物的产量差距；(2)针对产量差距的不同情景，估计离开根区的水和养分通量；(3)使用适当的数值模型，根据地下水和养分的抽水需求和返还通量，估计地下水位变化、河流耗竭和含水层中水质的变化；(4)模拟灌溉系统的最优用电。该讲习班将导致制定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。将鼓励处于职业生涯早期阶段的研究生和博士后以及研究人员参与进来。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时事通讯、新闻稿和两次年度赞助的教职员工务虚会与潜在的利益攸关方广泛分享。

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.