This article written by Dr. Reynold Bergen, BCRC Science Director, originally appeared in the October 26, 2015 issue of Canadian Cattlemen magazine and is reprinted on the BCRC Blog with permission of the publisher.
This summer has seen unusual rainfall patterns, low river levels and drought in large parts of Western Canada and the Western States. Some people blame water shortages on the beef industry and are ready to answer the question “how much water does beef production use?” Unfortunately, these answers are often wrong, highly misleading and based on “how big a number will people possibly swallow?”
One common water use figure comes from a 2012 paper by Mekkonen and Hoekstra (“A Global Assessment of the Water Footprint of Farm Animal Products”, Ecosystems 15:401-415). These researchers reported that it takes 15,415 liters to produce one kilogram of beef. Few people look beyond that number, but it’s worth understanding the shallow science behind that calculation.
They divided water into three categories. “Blue water” is used to water cattle, irrigate pastures, forage or feed crops, process Continue reading
