Daugherty Water for Food Podcast

Ron Yoder is a pillar of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln community and most recently served as the senior associate vice chancellor for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln 's (UNL's) Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR). In this episode, DWFI Director of Communication and Public Relations Frances Hayes talks with Ron about the important role he played in formation of DWFI more t...

This is the second in our series of podcasts from the 2023 Water for Food Global Conference, May 8-11. In this episode, we hear from Dr. Mure Agbonlahor, who works at the African Union Commission as senior Policy Officer, and Louise Mabulo, chef, farmer, entrepreneur, and founder of The Cacao Project. 

Soumya Balasubramanya, Senior Economist at The World Bank,   was a speaker at the recent 2023 Global Water for Food Conference in Lincoln, Nebraska. This is the first in a series of podcasts from the conference. 

Daugherty Water for Food Institute (DWFI) Research Program Manager Ankit Chandra and Director of Policy Nick Brozović recently published research on " Entrepreneurial trends in the Indian agricultural water ecosystem " and the larger business landscape of agricultural water use and investments. In this edition of the Water for Food podcast, we are sharing an episode of Agribusiness Matters, hosted...

In this episode of the Water for Food Podcast, Nebraska Water Center Public Relations and Engagement Coordinator Ann Briggs sits down with her colleague and Water Sciences Laboratory Director Dr. Dan Snow who shares his path to water quality research in Nebraska and beyond. They address known and emerging contaminants throughout the state, building international partnerships, and the importance of...

Dave Aiken is a DWFI faculty fellow and a professor of agricultural economics at UNL's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. His research areas include water law and policy, energy law, environmental law and global warming. In this episode, DWFI Communications Specialist Arianna Elnes talks to Dave about water law, water legal histories, the South Platte River Compact, and context around...

In this episode of the Water for Food Podcast, DWFI Communications Specialist Arianna Elnes discusses exciting projects coming out of the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute and what lies ahead in the upcoming year with Executive Director, Dr. Peter McCornick. McCornick leads the institute in delivering on its vision of a water and food secure world, building its partnerships and collaborati...

20 – Christopher Neale – Remote sensing, water and agriculture In this episode of the Water for Food Podcast, Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI) Director of Communications Frances Hayes sits down with her colleague and DWFI's Director of Research Dr. Christopher Neale . Dr. Neale shares how his technical research translates to a more sustainable agricultural system through more preci...

Renee San Souci – Member of the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska and Iowa In this episode of the Water for Food Podcast, DWFI Director of Communications Frances Hayes caught up with Renee San Souci at the 2022 Platte River Basin Conference in Kearney, Nebraska. Renee was a featured speaker at the conference, providing a tribal perspective on creating vibrant, resilient solutions for the future of the peopl...

Renata Rimšaitė  is a senior program manager with DWFI and the  National Drought Mitigation Center . Renata studies incentive-based water management, including tools designed to motivate or incentivize water using or managing parties to modify the way they use water, not only because it is sustainable, but also because it's in their financial interest. Water markets is an example of incentive-base...

DWFI Faculty Fellow Karina Schoengold is leading a $6 million, 4-year project to reduce the use of plastics, herbicides and associated environmental impacts in agricultural production. The use of plastics has been growing in agriculture over recent years to help increase productivity by limiting weeds, protecting growth and extending growing seasons. The team aims to create a bio-based material ca...

Erin Haacker is a hydrogeologist and assistant professor at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. As Erin would say, her professional path has been a winding road. She has two bachelor's degrees – zoology from the University of Montana and geology from University College Cork in Ireland. She ventured to Michigan State University for her Ph. D., double majoring in environmental science and policy and...

Roric Paulman is a producer and owner of Paulman Farms , located just south of Sutherland, Nebraska and in the heart of the Ogallala Aquifer, comprised of both irrigated and rain fed farmland. The farm was established and harvested its first crop in 1985 and uses the latest on-farm technology to grow more than a dozen crops. It is one of two "smart farms" in Nebraska that DWFI and the Nebraska Wat...

Jackson Stansell is CEO and founder of Sentinel Fertigation , a Lincoln, Nebraska ag startup founded in 2021 that uses drone- and satellite-collected imagery to predict when a corn crop needs fertilization — saving growers money and reducing environmental impact. Jackson has a connection to the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute. He received student support from the institute while working...

Of Rwanda's roughly 600,000 hectares of irrigable land, only 10% is currently irrigated. With a more developed irrigation industry, farmers would be able to take advantage of three growing seasons, rather than one, enabling better food security and income. However, there are gaps in knowledge needed to advance the industry.  Seeking to make these advancements accessible, staff at the Daugherty Wat...

Managed aquifer recharge can be an innovative way to both satisfy endangered species' habitat restoration and benefit crop irrigators in the area. This is exactly how it was used in Nebraska's Central Platte Valley when river canals were already in need of repair after more than 100 years of use. The process consists of recharging an aquifer using either surface or underground recharge techniques,...

Matt Foley is program director for The Combine AgriFood Incubator, a part of Invest Nebraska , which supports early stage agtech companies in row crop, animal health, digital agriculture and sustainability. The incubator supports founders of these companies through go-to market support, producer connections and seed funding. Matt also assists in portfolio management for the venture fund. In this e...

Amy Wu is an award-winning journalist, filmmaker and the creator  of  From Farms to Incubators , a multimedia platform that uses documentary, video, photography and the written word to tell the stories of women leaders and innovators in agtech. It has a mission of highlighting women in food, farming, and farmtech, especially women of color. From Farms to Incubators includes a  documentary  that ha...

Babak Safa joined the Water for Food Global Institute in July 2016. He specializes in agricultural meteorology, micro-meteorology and vegetation-atmosphere interaction. Safa analyzes eddy covariance flux data from installed systems to support remote sensing based model verification and water productivity estimates for several agricultural and natural ecosystems and projects around the world. He wo...

Qiao Hu, a Ph. D. student studying natural resource sciences at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, discusses his research using drones (UAVs) and artificial intelligence (AI) for wetlands management Qiao's faculty advisor and DWFI Faculty Fellow Zhenghong Tang is a professor in the Community and Regional Planning Program and Landscape Architecture Program at UNL, as well as a courtesy professor i...

Nebraska state climatologist Martha Shulski joins the podcast to discuss the impact of climate change on society and the environment. Shulski is also a DWFI Faculty Fellow, associate professor of Applied Climate Science at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, director of the Nebraska State Climate Office and a proud "weather nerd." She was one of the contributing authors on the Fourth National Clim...

Crystal Powers, research and extension communication specialist with the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI) and Nebraska Water Center interviews University of Nebraska-Lincoln communications professor Jessica Walsh about her 2019 project Nitrates in Nebraska : A Multimedia Journalism Project on the Impact of Nitrate Contamination in the Groundwater. Walsh is a former newspaper report...

DWFI executive director Peter McCornick co-hosts with Gus Hurwitz, the Menard director of the Nebraska governance and technology center at the University of Nebraska. Law is a key focus of the conversation. Water regulations, and the subsidies and penalties that follow them, are not easy to change when a major weather event impacts water storage and use. As more and more weather events occur due t...

Meghan Sittler is Director of the Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center, located about 15 minutes from downtown Lincoln, which focuses on conservation of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem and the birds that rely on it. Meghan joined the center two years ago with a background that included eight years as the Coordinator of the Lower Platte River Corridor Alliance, and most recently she served as the Do...