Researchers Develop A Framework To Understand Water Use In Beef Supply Chains From Production To Consumption

Animal-based products constitute a large portion of the average American's diet, as well as the resources necessary to get them from field to table. But as food systems in the US become more interconnected and complex, what we choose to put on our plates—beef products in particular—often impacts the environment in previously unknown ways.

All animal production requires great quantities of water, with the vast majority used to produce feed. The irrigation process for feed requires blue water, which is water found in surface and ground reservoirs. Using blue water exclusively can lead to significant environmental concerns like water depletion, water logging, salization, and soil degradation.

"To irrigate feed crops for each ton of boneless beef eaten in the US, we found that approximately 3.5 cubic meters of blue water is needed." Anaís Ostroski, lead author and Ph.D. student, said. "That's equivalent to more than 900 gallons of water." (At room temperature, that equals approximately 3.7 tons of water to produce one ton of beef.)

By using an optimization-based framework and publicly available datasets on supply and demand, the model found there is a major disconnect between consumption and production counties, with over 22 billion cubic meters of virtual blue water being transferred in 2017 alone. For perspective, the Great Salt Lake is 19 billion cubic meters.