2023 Water for Food Global Conference

The 2023 Water for Food Global Conference will focus on innovative ways to improve water and food security by increasing farmers’ resiliency to a changing landscape. The challenges of climate change, soil degradation, water access and management, economic disparity and conflict bring about extreme competition for urban and rural water.

The two-day conference, situated in the middle of a living laboratory and atop the vast Great Plains Aquifer, will provide a platform to explore win-win scenarios to support improved water use in agriculture and increase productivity at a variety of scales – from smallholders, collectives and coops to commercial farm operations – while preserving water resources for other human and environmental needs.

Throughout the conference, experts will share research results, case studies and perspectives on how we can achieve global food and water security. Solutions discussed will be sustainable, scalable and adaptable to local contexts, involving all stakeholders in the decision-making process. Additional topic-focused side events and meetings will bookend the conference.

Theme: Cultivating Innovation: Solutions for a Changing World

Under this theme, participants will discuss the next generation of research, smart technology, policy development and best practices that are achieving breakthroughs in this vitally important mission. Five session tracks have been identified:

• Climate change
• Technology to improve productivity and protect agroecosystems
• Water policy and management
• Capacity development
• People, animals and health