Water Case Study

The United States agriculture makes up for more than two-thirds of our nations water footprint. That huge water footprint is primarily due to the tremendous amount of water needed to grow the grass and feed that a cow eats over its lifetime. This also includes the Cattles drinking water, cleaning, and processing. Those who are greatly affected by the lack of water in their states, particularly in the west coast, feel that the amount of water consumption needs to be reduced significantly. According to the National Geographic, “the water it takes to produce the average American diet alone—approximately 1,000 gallons per person per day. This is more than the global average water footprint of 900 gallons per person per day for diet, household

This article discusses how the consumption and production of meat and dairy is one of leading causes of habitat destruction and quick action needs to be taken to preserve biodiversity. The article analyzes the meat-eating trends in tropical regions of America, Asia, and Africa. It concludes that meat production rates are rapidly increasing, underlying that a 30-50% increase in the land will be needed by 2050 if these patterns continue. Bushmeat consumption in Africa and livestock consumption in China are outlined as special concerns. The main solution proposed is reforming the livestock industry by reducing demand and waste, replacing ecologically inefficient protein sources with better alternatives such as plants or fish, and reintegrate modern livestock production

There are many different practises and methods available for livestock production, and ultimately it is the choices that farmers make that determines the production’s level of sustainability. The practices of industrial large-scale operations like CAFOs result in both environmental damage as well as health concerns for humans and animals. Depletion, pollution and contamination are the biggest obstacles we face when trying to move toward a more sustainable planet. But when livestock is handled responsibly, with consideration for the environment and potential consequences, it is indeed possible to produce livestock that is beneficial for our planet. Organic and grass-based farming systems such as silvopastoral systems have been proven to increase biodiversity, reverse soil erosion and counteract water depletion. By encouraging farmers to move towards more sustainable methods like these, we can help curb today’s more urgent issues regarding our environment. While there are disagreements between researchers on how to do this, they all agree that we have to take some kind of action to save our planet. Possible ways to achieve this include not consuming meat, or buying meat from local, organic and grass-based farmers to ensure the livestock was raised in a responsible way. If more consumers demanded this type of meat,

When discussions about food justice arise, they often revolve around environmental sustainability, nutrition and access. In terms of environmental suitability, the conversation often revolves around irresponsible water use and conservation efforts, especially in California since we are currently in a drought. Many ethical concerns about the environmental effects of growing meat, most notably cows,

Water shortages are a concern to agriculture because a lack of water leads to either poorly developed crops or to dead crops, thereby creating food shortages. Biologists has two primary roles to play in the fight against water shortages. The first role is a research role, which is the development of more water efficient crops, cropping systems and creating alternatives to meat which has a very high water cost. The second role they have to play is with interacting with both the public and the government and working together with them to improve legalisation in agricultural legislation, taxing and helping form public and school education programmes talking about the water footprint.

The current American system of grain-fed cattle consumes a disproportionately large amount of resources per yield. One has to be keen in distinguishing “grain-fed cattle” from “pasture-fed cattle” also known as “cattle-razing” which many experts have surmised is a more efficient use of marginal land. Research conducted by Cornell University’s David Pimentel revealed that animal protein production requires more than eight times as much fossil-fuel energy than production of plant protein while yielding animal protein that is only 1.4 times more nutritious for humans than the comparable amount of plant protein (Pimentel, 1997). Pimentel’s analysis also showed that grain-fed beef production necessitates 100,000 liters of water for every kilogram of food. Raising broiler chickens consumes about 3,500 liters of water to make a kilogram of meat. In comparison, soybean production uses 2,000 liters for kilogram of food produced; wheat, 900; rice, 1,912; and potatoes, 500 liters. Effectively, grain-fed livestock is a largely ineffective, costly, and a non-sustainable means of producing animal

Statistics derived from the United States Department of Agriculture show that approximately 10 billion animals raised each year are killed for food in the United States. The toll taken to the environment by mass meat production and the consumption of animal products is never considered. No one to think about how many resources needed to produce enough meat to cater to excessive consumption of animal products all over the world. These animals need to eat and drink. Feeding 10 billion animals in the United States cost more than feeding the whole world. Statistics from the UN show that raising and feeding animals uses approximately 30% of the land mass (Kallen, 2006).

An approximate of 2,464 gallons of water is required to produce one pound of beef as compared to just 25 gallons for the production of one pound of wheat (vegeteriantimes.com, n.d, para.2). As such, a vegan diet requires 300 gallons of water per day in comparison to 4,000 gallons for a meat eating diet (1millionwomen.com.au, 2015). These figures show the excessive water usage for a meat eater’s diet.

You might be asking yourself, why do I care? The answer to that question becomes clear once it is put into the circumstances currently occurring around the world. For example, grain-fed beef production requires around 100,000 liters of water for every kilogram of food (2). With drought conditions being observed all over the world including the U.S., this should be concerning to you. If not, just mull over the idea that we consume around 25 million billion pounds of beef in the U.S. per year alone (1). I’ll let you do the math on how much water that is.

According to Eliza Barclay in her article from 2013 she states, meat, of course, requires more water in it's production than any other food, because animals devour so much feed that in turn has to be grown with water. Fortunately, we're better about eating the meat we produce. If you want to know where all of your favorite foods stand on the "how much water does this food contain" chart you can check it out at, Water Footprint Network.

Not only is the agriculture business profoundly responsible for pollution of Earth’s oceans, but it also uses 80-90% of the global water supply (Andersen and Kuhn). As of 2016, there are nearly 783 million people who do not have access to clean water, and over six million deaths a year related to water disasters and diseases (UNESCO Water Corp). Despite this daunting fact, meat industries in America alone produced 25.8 billion pounds of beef in 2013 (North American Meat Institute). It takes about 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. So, in 2013 alone, American meat industries consumed about 6.5 trillion gallons of water (Andersen and Kuhn).

Global meat production rose to a new peak of 308.5 million tons in 2013, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a more than fourfold increase over the last five decades. Even more startlingly, meat production has grown 25-fold since 1800 (Horrigan, Lawerence &Walker, 2002). Globally, agriculture utilizes nearly 70 per cent of the world 's available freshwater. One-third of that percentage is used to grow grains to feed to livestock (ECOS, 2014). While the global meat industry provides food and a livelihood for billions of people, it also has significant environmental and health consequences for the planet. Over half of the water used in meat production

Consumption of meat by humans creates several problems. First and foremost, raising animals for food compromises the environment. For example, it takes a large amount of natural resources to sustain the meat industry. The use of water, land, and food to raise animals for human consumption is not an efficient use of our limited resources. In contrast, it is more efficient to feed humans directly than to use land, food, and water to feed animals to be used as food. There are shortages of fertile land, clean water, and food in several third world countries. Many of these countries’ resources are allocated to produce feed for animals in developed countries around the world. As a result, the citizens of these countries are stricken with water and food shortages, while their crops are feeding cattle from across the globe. However, this problem can be solved by adopting a vegan diet. The vegan diet will allow a more efficient use of resources that in turn can be used to feed starving men, women, and children throughout the world. Consequently, more people in the world could be fed if the land used to grow feed for animals was used to grow food for humans.

This report will firstly present and express the importance of water before going about expounding the various ways in which water is being used. It will go on to demonstrate the lack of accessibility alongside the vulnerability of the resource and explaining how it would lead to water shortage on the basis of factors affecting the globe currently.

In the field, meat production is a problem because it uses more resources than the crops production. Firstly, meat production consumes much more water if was compared with the crops consumption. For example, 1kg of beef spends almost 15000 litres of water to be produced, while a cabbage spends just 237 litres (IMechE, 2013). Secondly, plantations need smaller areas of land in comparison to the livestock .Thirdly, plants that are used to feed animals should be used to feed people (Godfray et al., 2010). To reduce meat consumption in a world diet could be a simple and efficient solution, because more people could be fed with the same resources of water and land. However, Godfray et al. (2010) claims that some plants that are used to feed animals could not be used to feed people and lands where these are planted are not appropriate to cultivate