The topic of this travel fellowship was the water-energy-emissions nexus in irrigated agriculture. This fellowship allowed me to meet with world class researchers working on various aspects of this topic, extending my network of industry contacts. A key benefit was the exposure to the latest research and ideas, which will provide an opportunity for these to potentially be adapted to the Australian situation. Similar research carried out as part of my PhD studies is pertinent to the major challenges facing irrigators both in Australia and internationally. Given the current global focus on water and food shortages in conjunction with a drive to reduce emissions, this fellowship provided a timely opportunity to explore the links between these factors in irrigated agriculture.

The countries visited were Turkey, Israel, the UK and US. The irrigation industry in each of these countries is very different in terms of scale, technology, legislation and state of research. In Turkey I met with researchers from three universities, several of whom were working on energy in irrigation for pumping. Discussions with Dr Bilal Acar and Dr Ramazan T opak were useful in terms of understanding their approach to quantifying energy consumption.

In Israel, the highly technological state of irrigation and water resources management was evident everywhere. I had the opportunity to travel from the relatively fertile north to the extremely arid south of the country, witnessing throughout the abrupt changes in landscape and methods of adaptation. The high input irrigation sector was explored in nurseries/greenhouses, horticultural, viticultural and broad acre production systems.

In the UK, my experiences focussed on water and carbon accounting and climate change impacts, where there is a lot of interest in these areas, both on the part of researchers but also driven by consumer demand through supermarkets as well as government departments.

The USA gave me the chance to discuss the issues surrounding biofuel development, as well as to meet with several irrigators to explore their methods of coping as water availability declines. A particular highlight was meeting with Professor David Pimentel at Cornell University, who was the pioneer of research into energy in ecosystems and agriculture in the 1970s, and continues his research to this day.

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This travel fellowship has allowed me to both contribute my ideas and learn from others regarding the issues facing irrigated agriculture internationally, and to explore the potential impacts of climate change on this vital sector of the agricultural industry. A better understanding of these challenges will help with the development of strategies to adapt to changes brought about by a changing climate and related policies.