Groundwater in Agriculture

June 15-17, 2010
San Francisco, CA
Hyatt Regency at the San Francisco Airport
Burlingame, CA

This three-day international conference brought together leading scientists, policy analysts, policy and decision makers, and agricultural and environmental stakeholder groups to define and highlight the science, challenges, and potential policy solutions in agricultural groundwater resources management and groundwater quality protection that will provide a sustainable future at regional, national, and global scales.

Groundwater is the lifeline for many rural and agricultural regions and their associated cultures and populations around the globe and a cornerstone of global food production. Groundwater constitutes nearly half the world's drinking water and much of the world's irrigation water supply. Population growth, overexploitation, salinization, nonpoint source pollution from agricultural activities (including animal farming, ranching, and forestry activities), impacts to surface water, and groundwater quality and quantity conflicts at the urban-rural interface have reached global dimensions and threaten the health and livelihood of this planet.

Presentations and videos of the conference will be posted here later this summer - stay tuned!

A complete set of abstracts is available here (3.9MB)

Topics addressed in plenary sessions and technical sessions included:

• Socioeconomic Aspects of Agricultural Groundwater
• Climate, Energy, and Agricultural Groundwater
• Agricultural Groundwater Quality and Contamination
• Conjunctive Use, Agricultural Water Use, and Groundwater Management,
• Policy, and Regulation
• Groundwater at the Agriculture-Urban Interface
• Groundwater Linkages to Surface Water and Estuaries

For questions regarding this website, please email Dr. Thomas Harter