Toward Sustainable Groundwater in Agriculture: An International Conference Linking Science and Policy

This three-day conference will provide scientists, policymakers, agricultural and environmental stakeholders, local, state and federal governmental officials, and consultants with the latest scientific, management, legal and policy advances for sustaining our groundwater resources in agricultural regions around the world.

Program Highlights:

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. Over use; groundwater salinity; nonpoint source pollution from agricultural activities, animal farming, ranching, and forestry activities; agricultural groundwater impacts to surface water; and groundwater quality and quantity conflicts at the urban-rural interface have reached global dimensions and threaten the very livelihood of this planet.

Topics to be addressed in plenary sessions and technical sessions include:

• 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

Abstract submittal is open until January 18, 2010.