The world population currently stands at about 7 billion people. But by 2050, many experts say, we’re going to have to be feeding 9 billion people. All of that new food is going to take a lot of land, a lot of expertise and a lot of water. “Yet sources sought out at the 2012 Water for Food Conference don’t seem to be hitting the panic button,” according to the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star’s Art  Hovey.

The conference, sponsored by the Water for Food Institute in Lincoln, attracts international experts keen to solve the world’s food and water problems.

A registration list of more than 540 at The Cornhusker is the largest ever, and the list of countries looks like a United Nations roll call. Among them are Argentina, France, New Zealand, Nigeria, Tajikistan and the United Arab Emirates.

Water issues are coming to the fore in U.S. agriculture too, with heated battles over the use of the Ogallala Acquifer and water rights in California impacting the nation’s food supply. The Water for Food Institute is focused on figuring out ways to grow more food with less water.

As the institue's title indicates, feeding the world will always depend on finding water for crops.