Heuermann Lecture to focus on irrigation’s role in nutrition

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s next Heuermann Lecture will focus on the theme “Nourishing a Healthy Future: The Role of Irrigation in a Changing World.”

The lecture, part of the 2025 Water for Food Global Conference and sponsored by the university’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, is 4:30 to 6 p.m. April 29 at the Nebraska Innovation Campus Conference Center, 2021 Transformation Drive. The lecture is free and open to the public and will be livestreamed here.

Sustainable, nutritious diets are essential for improving human health. Irrigation plays an increasingly important role in supporting greater access to varied and healthful diets, particularly by enabling the production and supply of fruits, vegetables and animal-source foods.

The lecture will explore key links between irrigation and nutritious diets and highlights opportunities and challenges to improving the role of irrigation in nourishing a healthier future amid growing competition over water resources and other constraints.

Claudia Ringler, director of natural resources and resilience at the International Food Policy Research Institute, will deliver the keynote speech. A panel discussion will follow and include Ringler; Abbie Raikes, director of the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Center for Global Health and Development; and Brandon Hunnicutt, a fifth-generation Nebraska farmer and chairman of the Nebraska Corn Board. Jesse Bell, director of water, climate and health at the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute, will moderate.

The lecture is held in conjunction with the 2025 Water for Food Global Conference, April 28 to May 2, which will convene leading international experts and organizations in conversations focused on the theme “A Resilient Future: Water and Food for All.” The conference will explore innovative solutions for feeding a growing planet while conserving natural resources. The conference is organized by the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska and features three days of conference sessions, as well as off-site visits to working farms and research centers.

Heuermann Lectures are funded by a gift from the late B. Keith and Norma Heuermann of Phillips. The Heuermanns have been longtime university supporters, with a strong commitment to the state’s production agriculture, natural resources, rural areas and people.

Lectures also air live on campus channel 4. Lectures are archived after the event and are later broadcast on NET2.