Workshop of Water and Food Security under Changing Environments was held from June 1 to June 2, 2015 by the Innovation and Introduction of Oversea Talents Base on Improving Water Use Efficiency in Agriculture (111 Plan) at the conference hall of Jinma Hotel. Over 100 scientists from America, Australia, Israel, New Zealand, Portugal, Denmark, Hong Kong and mainland China participated in this workshop. Totally 28 world renowned experts in the field of environmental physiology and ecology, agricultural and ecological hydrology, agricultural water management gave presentations on the topics related with water and food security.
Prof. Tao Wang, vice-president of China Agricultural University (CAU), gave welcoming remarks at the ceremony. He highlighted the strategic demand for high efficient agricultural water consumption from the view of national food security, stressed the importance of water science, and briefly introduced the history of the Innovation and Introduction of Oversea Talents Base on Improving Water Use Efficiency in Agriculture.
Prof. and Academician Shaozhong Kang firstly gave a presentation on Improving Water Productivity for China’s Food Security under Changing Environments. During the presentation, he introduced the current situation and challenging problems on water and food security worldwide, the contribution of irrigation to food security, and the strategies for improving irrigation water productivity. He also addressed the relevant research to be carried out and main scientific issues to be solved for improving water productivity in the typical region of North China, i.e., Shiyang River Basin in Gansu Province, Hetao Irrigation District in Inner Mongolia, and the North China Plain. The other scientists gave presentations largely focusing on the six areas, i.e., water and food security, crop response to water stress, estimation and simulation of crop water consumption, monitoring and modeling of regional hydrology, advancement of agricultural water management, irrigation strategies and comprehensive measures to ensure food security. The speakers include Prof. Graham Farquhar from the Australian National University, who is the former vice dean and fellow of Australian Academy of Science, foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences, foreign fellow of the Royal Society; Dr. Brent Clothier, the chief editor of Agricultural Water Management and the fellow of Royal Society of New Zealand; Prof. Luis Santos Pereira from University of Lisbon in Portugal; Prof. Robert Sharp, the director of Interdisciplinary Plant Group in the University of Missouri, USA and Asso. Profs. Felix Fritschi andJason Hubbart from the same University; Dr. Shabtai Cohen, the director of the Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences of Agricultural Research Organization in Israel; Research Scientist Lu Zhang from CSIRO Land and Water Flagship, Australia; Prof. Alvin Smucker from Michigan State University,USA; Profs. Zohrab Samani and Manoj Shukla from the New Mexico State University, USA; Asso. Prof. Allan Andales and Dr. José Chávez from Colorado State University, USA; the former director and research scientist Thomas Trout and Dr. Kendall DeJonge from the Water Management Research Unit, Dr. Ray Anderson from U.S. Salinity Laboratory of USDA-ARS; Dr. Lixin Wang from Indiana University- Purdue University Indianapolis, USA; Prof. Jianhua Zhang from the Chinese University of Hong Kong; Prof. Xurong Mei from the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences; Prof. Yaohu Kang from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); Prof. Xiying Zhang from the Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of CAS; Prof. Jiusheng Li from the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research; Asso. Prof. Haijun Liu from Beijing Normal University; Porfs. Guanhua Huang, Ping Guo, Taisheng Du and Dr. Risheng Ding from CAU.
In the discussion session, active communications and discussions were conducted focusing on the relevant research topics and research fronts on how to ensure water and food security under changing environment. Attendants also exchanged ideas on how to make solid collaborations and agreed that the collaborations should include jointly undertaking international cooperation projects, jointly conducting scientific experimental research, jointly training graduate students and young research scientists, co-publishing high level papers, co-organizing international conferences, and establishing joint research center on agricultural high efficient water utilization. They also discussed in great depth the issues related with conducting joint experiment and research, exchange of scientific data, publishing conference papers, summer school in 2016, and establishing the joint research center. All the attendants agreed that a special issue on Improving Water Productivity for Food Security under Changing Environments should be planned in the journal of Agricultural Water Management.
After the workshop, some experts went to the Shiyanghe Experimental Station and the Inner Mongolia Hetao Irrigation District for a 3-day fieldtrip respectively. A short term training course on Isotope Hydrology was held in the Shiyanghe Experimental Station by Dr. Kelly Caylor from Prenston Unviersity and Dr. Lixin Wang from Indiana University- Purdue University Indianapolis, USA. Over 40 people participated the training course, including Drs. Taisheng Du, Xiaomin Mao, Xinmei Hao, Sien Li and Risheng Ding from CAU, Drs. Xiaojun Shen and Zhifang Chen from the Farmland Irrigation Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and graduate students in the Station.
