2023-03-02
UC Merced’s strengths in water and agriculture shine at Diversity in Tech Symposium
The 7th Annual Edge in Tech Symposium was held virtually on March 2nd, 2023. This year’s overarching theme was Smarter Tech for a Resilient Future and highlighted the experiences of experts using emerging technologies to advance innovation for more sustainable infrastructure.
Watch the highlights of the panel here
California is facing a water crisis, with 40-60% of the state’s water supply coming from groundwater. Agriculture accounts for 80% of California’s water usage, making it imperative for us to find innovative and sustainable ways to manage our water resources. In this context, technology can play a vital role in enabling resilience and equity.
To showcase some of these challenges, Erin Hestir who serves as the Associate Director of CITRIS UC Merced and Professor of Geomatics, moderated a panel discussion on “Water and Agriculture: Resilience through Better Information.” As Hestir stated, “Water has been the subject of a lot of attention both in California and across the world. These panelists are here to share their thoughts with us about the intersection of water and agriculture and how technology can help us build resilience.” The panel discussion featured research, non-profit, and technology sector experts:
Dr. Newsha Ajami, Chief Strategy and Development Officer for Research, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Connie Bowen, Co-Founder, FarmHand Ventures, and
Dr. Tara Moran, President and CEO, California Water Data Consortium
One example of technology-enabled resilience that could lead to improvements in water management is using a distributed cloud-based system. This system can provide data in a wide variety of ways, making it accessible to people from different backgrounds and with different skill sets.
Speaking on this, Moran shared further about how upcoming projects can provide data to a wide range of users. For example, the California Water Data Consortium is currently developing an open-source groundwater accounting platform that integrates data from a variety of different sources, in partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund, the Department of Water Resources, and the State Water Resources Control Board. “It essentially links district-level water budgets directly with parcel-level information so that landowners can plan for their growing season,” Moran stated. “They can really understand what their water use is, how it relates to district level goals, and, and then make planning decisions associated with it.” This cloud-based system helps people see what wider impacts pumping water may have and what to expect within a larger system, effectively sharing that data with a diverse group of interests.
Panelists noted data in a vacuum can be problematic as it lacks local context. To ensure that technology is relevant and useful, involving local people in the policymaking process is essential. For example, Dr. Ajami, during her time at Stanford University, conducted a study that involved bringing local people to the table to find out what questions they had in an attempt to address this issue.
Ajami also spoke on the unintended consequences of policies that favor large-scale farming, essentially overdrafting from water resources. “Groundwater is an interest,” Ajami told attendees, “like your bank account. You put things in, you take things out, and we need to put money back in for that savings account to have a value. Otherwise, it’ll be an empty account that you are never able to draw from.” In one example, a tariff passed in Mexico made electricity cheap, resulting in the overuse of water and overdrafting. The farm workers in Baja California are now permanent in the region as a result, but they have no access to sanitation, education, or water services. Technology can help address these issues, but it must be designed with the people doing the work in mind.
Connie Bowen emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary learning to address the complex challenges facing California’s water resources. She also spoke about the need to ensure equity in policy and investment implementation. One way to achieve this is to encourage different backgrounds and ways of thinking, which can lead to more innovative and equitable solutions, particularly in the realms of agriculture and water.
“Our agricultural system needs to be able to both provide cheap nutrition and not do so at the expense of people,” Bowen said, discussing the current challenges. “Currently, it’s not quite doing that, and that is inherently related to its sustainability and water management elements.” As part of one solution, she recommended more frequently bringing diverse stakeholders to the table, where they can be more involved in the issues that impact them.
To create a better, diverse, and resilient future for California’s water resources, it is important to involve more people at the table, discuss how solutions benefit the most variety of people, and have more leaders from different backgrounds with resources and capital. It is also vital to be aware of how venture capital works and encourage different backgrounds and ways of thinking while learning how to deal with disagreements and accept other cultures.
In addition, academic interdisciplinary collaboration can foster an exchange of knowledge to help tackle the complex challenges facing both California’s water resources and those worldwide. As Dr. Ajami shares at the end of the panel, “The day that we break some of these existing fragmented systems and have more interdisciplinary people educated at academic institutions that think about systems rather than just one box at a time… will be my happy day because I know that those create exchanges that expand people’s thinking and knowledge.”