Theme
The challenge is addressing water scarcity in agriculture, where drought, overuse of water resources, deteriorating water quality, and climate change are contributing to water shortages in agriculture. Water scarcity is a major concern because irrigated farms contribute to approximately half of US crop sales, greater yields, reduced poverty, affordable and positive health and nutrition outcomes.
New, bold and transformative solutions are needed to provide inexpensive and plentiful water for agriculture, from harnessing off-peak or dedicated renewable energy supplies to taking advantage of innovations in systems integration, smart grid technology, and resource recovery from unconventional water resources.
Focus Areas
- Disruptive technologies for resource recovery of energy and water for agriculture practices
- Decision support models for new energy and water resources in agricultural practices
- Global assessment of policy and technology diffusion
Major Research Efforts/Topics – details of potential new research projects are described below:
- Catalytic Nitrogen Recovery from Unconventional Water Sources to Offset Energy Demands for Agricultural Water Treatment
- Recovery of Value-Added Products from Petrochemical Wastewater
- Mobile Renewable Energy Power Systems for Remote Water Pumping Applications
- Dynamic Simulation Model for New Water Resources in Sustainable Agriculture
- Synergistic Distributed Systems: Renewable Electricity and Water Recycling
- Energy and Climate Policy Impacts on Agricultural Land Use, Water Use and Food Production
- Adapting Water Management to Climate Extremes