Quenching the Thirst for Water Research

Water is essential for agricultural production and food security. Moreover, agriculture is the largest water user worldwide, accounting for 70% of total freshwater withdrawal. As our freshwater resources are diminishing, agriculture is facing many obstacles around water usage. Over the years, the intensity and frequency of droughts has increased, causing agricultural and food production to be more vulnerable than ever. Therefore, it becomes critical to find smart ways to use the limited water resources available for agricultural production and refine the current water usage techniques. Developing new water- usage strategies and developing the technologies that can create an ongoing stable supply of water for our agricultural production are crucial elements for building a resilient and strong standing agriculture.

In order to explore sustainable solutions for water usage in agriculture, BARD has called for original, novel and high-quality applied research proposals that relate to several different components of water quality, different forms of water-usage, precision irrigation and wastewater reuse. Over the past 40 years, BARD has provided over 30 million dollars to support water and soil related research, funding over 129 research projects and a number of workshops on water and water related subjects. We would like to highlight BARD’s workshops program that brings together leading experts from the U.S. and Israel, together with experts from around the world to jointly discuss how we can work together deal with our current challenges and the challenges to come.

In 2016, the objectives of the workshop were to target the “Root Zone: Soil Physics & Beyond”. Researchers aimed to identify and overcome knowledge gaps related to various physical, biological and chemical aspects of water and nutrient flow, transport and uptake. The organizers identified the root zone as an important region that is known to control both agronomic production as well as environmental aspects of water. Equally important are agro-chemical applications and their utilization. Special emphasis was given to novel measurements and modeling tools and to the interdisciplinary research needed to study them. During the discussions, the participants pointed out the scientific gaps that exist: how to measure and quantify (or, the imaging and monitoring) of root stress, hydraulic redistribution, water flow in the rhizosphere, water cavitation, rhizosphere properties and biofilm and root exudate effects on soil mechanic and hydraulic properties.

This workshop was organized by Profs J. Hopmans of the University of California, Davis, Naftali Lazarovitch of the Jacob Blaustein Desert Research Institute of the Ben Gurion University and Alex Furman of the Technion chaired a workshop funded by BARD. Scientist from the US and Israel were joined by scientists from Canada, South America and Asia.

In 2018, the BARD-funded workshop entitled “Global Water Reuse, Food and Health”, aimed to encourage and promote a binational interdisciplinary scientific network. This network focused on the global need to enable safe water reuse for food crop irrigation. To do this, farmers must have technology-based solutions. Participants discussed the use of recycled irrigation water, its impact on soil health, plant health and crop yields, and its effects on public health. They also discussed the cultural, behavioral and economic factors influencing recycled irrigation water. These issues are critically important in the era of global climate change and urban stressors.

An outcome of this workshop is a unique and interesting multinational partnership promoting sustainable change at the local level. Scientists from the University of Maryland together with researchers from the Hebrew University in Israel, Ethiopia & Nepal worked together to develop one of the highest-scoring proposals in the MacArthur fund's 100 & Change grant.

This workshop was organized by Profs Amy R. Sapotka, (of the University of Maryland), Yael Mishael (of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Clive Lipchin, (of the Arava Institute of Institute of Environmental Studies), and Erick Bandala (of the Desert Research Institute, of the Ben Gurion University of the Negev)

In 2018, BARD funded a binational workshop entitled: “The Future of Water for Irrigation in California and Israel”. Learning from each other’s experience in the past and exploring the best possible future policies, academics, stakeholders and policy makers discussed the use and reuse of water in the semi-arid agriculture of both the state of California and the State of Israel. Participants were concerned with maximizing plant growth and yield while not compromising the environment. They discussed optimizing the use of irrigation technologies, like optimization of water networks in large farms, crop water stress monitorization through proximal and online remote-sensing techniques.

This workshop was jointly organized by Dr. Douglas Parker from Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California, Oakland, UC ANR California Institute for Water Resources Dr. Shabtai Cohen from the Israel Agricultural Research Organization, (ARO) Volcani Center, and also sponsored by Netafim: Irrigation Services & Solutions, Almond Board of California, Rivulis: Micro Irrigation and Jain Irrigation Systems