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Forests and water are inextricably linked, and people are dependent on forested lands to provide clean, reliable water supplies for drinking and to support local economies. As nearly 87% of the forested land in the South is privately owned, water supplies in the region are particularly at risk of degradation from continued conversion of forests to other land uses to support a growing population. Given the variety of threats to surface water, it is increasingly important for forest managers to highlight the relationships between forests and the maintenance of clean and abundant water supplies in the region.

For more details here.

Here we go! Proud to launch our first ever high-resolution (2 km) Global SWAT+ Model: CoSWAT Model v1.

• A high-resolution, global SWAT+ hydrological framework built for modern water research, bridging the gap between local precision and planetary scale
• Open-source
• Fully reproducible
• Live and ready to use

Dig into the details here.

Session ID: 246682 
Session Title: H003: Advancement in Watershed Modeling: Agricultural Systems, Erosion Control and Nutrient Balances
Science Section: Hydrology
Deadline: 2025-07-30 (Wed)

Primary Convener: Haw Yen, USDA-ARS
Conveners: Xuesong Zhang, USDA-ARS; Latif Kalin, Auburn University; Raghavan Srinivasan, Texas A&M University

For the 10th straight year since 2016, this modeling session has served as a forum for extensive discussions among international scientists spanning various disciplines. We aspire to foster collaborative efforts in this session, advocating for advanced insights to drive future investigations into modeling development and associated management strategies. See you in New Orleans~!

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Thank you to everyone that joined the SWAT-VEXA webinar. The recording can be found below if you did not have a chance to join live. You can also sign up for VEXA here for free by creating an account and entering in the prompted information.

Accelerate data-driven decision making with answers to questions like:

1. Policymaker: how much water is available for irrigation or drinking in my region?
2. Land and water managers: What are the best land management practices to adopt to mitigate the risks of drought, flooding, or other extreme weather events?
3. Farmers: How can I optimize crop yields and water use efficiency while minimizing environmental degradation for my plot?

Whether you support agricultural and urban communities across policymaking, land and water management, farming, research or more, SWAT-VEXA is ready to help.

Update: as of January 2026, please access SWAT-VEXA at vexa.swat.tamu.edu instead of the .com URL.

Join IBM for an engaging session to learn about SWAT VEXA, an IBM Sustainability Accelerator solution built in collaboration with Texas A&M AgriLife Research.

SWAT VEXA leverages an interactive Gen AI virtual assistant that policymakers, land and water managers, farmers, researchers, and extension agents can use to support both agricultural and urban communities. See what is under the hood and come with questions.

We hope to see you there!

Date: April 18, 2025
Time: 9am-10am ET (adjust for your time zone)

See the webinar recording here.

AgriLife Research and IBM's 'Soil and Water Assessment Tool Virtual Extension Assistant,' or SWAT VEXA, is a free, generative AI assistant that provides user-friendly insights for a host of agriculture and natural resources production scenarios.

Read more on AgriLife Today Use SWAT-VEXA

Update: as of January 2026, please access SWAT-VEXA at vexa.swat.tamu.edu instead of the .com URL.

Flanders UNESCO Trustfund is offering sponsorships for participants from developing countries to attend the SWAT+ Advanced Workshop taking place in January 2025 with the lead of Texas A&M AgriLife Research. At least five applicants will have their registration fees fully covered.

Texas A&M AgriLife Research collaborated with the IBM Sustainability Accelerator to create the SWAT Virtual Extension Assistant, an interactive Gen AI virtual assistant that provides user-friendly soil and water information to support agricultural and natural resource decision-making. For help, contact: eco.web@tamu.edu