| |
Source: Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE, 3/22/12
U.S. cattle producers could be excused for feeling singled out for punishment by the water gods. A long, hot, dry year that cost the ag industry $7.62 billion was followed by a mild winter, and the National Weather Service has mostly bad news for livestock-growing areas: The Climate Prediction Center expects continued drought conditions from the lower half of California to Midland, Texas, and from all of Florida up the lower Atlantic Coast to North Carolina.
But in fact, others are feeling their pain: The United Kingdom, for example, is suffering its worst drought in 30 years. Southern Europe is dry, as is Bahia state in Brazil. That’s not including areas of Africa and the Middle East that are usually dry but have been even drier over the past 12 months.
And the water and subsequent price disruptions of 2011-12 are nothing compared with what the agriculture industries with wrestle with come 2030, if significant efficiencies aren’t worked into the system.
World Water Day
Today is World Water Day, and according to the Water Resources Group — a working group of the World Economic Forum, including many major industrial water users such as Nestle and Coca-Cola — without more efficient use of the water resources around globe, by 2030 the demand for water will exceed its availability by 40 percent.
Agriculture as a whole is by far the greatest user of fresh water globally, and so the push is on to institute efficiencies in this area, which could be leveraged to provide the greatest benefit.
As for livestock production in particular, National Geographic calculates that:
A pound of beef requires 1,799 gallons of water to produce. Most of that goes to irrigation for feed, but 18.6 gallons is used for drinking water and in processing.A one-third pound burger requires 660 gallons of water, most of which comes from the production of beef. A pound of pork requires 576 gallons of water to produce, 52.8 gallons of which is water for drinking and processing.A pound of chicken requires 468 gallons of water, just 2.4 gallons of which is additional water for drinking and processing.(By way of comparison, a gallon of wine requires 1,008 gallons of water to produce, and a gallon of beer requires 689 gallons of water.)
Advances
Meat processing companies are aware of the need to conserve water and many have instituted water treatment, recycling and conservation equipment and policies. Recently, Sanderson Farms and American Proteins were recognized with the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association’s 2012 Clean Water Awards.
Sanderson Farms, for example, uses a pretreatment system at its Flowood, Miss. further processing facility that includes flow equalization, primary clarification, biological treatment and secondary wastewater clarification. Other companies have instituted policies from the simple — don’t use water as a broom — to more complex systems of using recycled water for some cleaning duties, such as washing trucks, so that it’s used two or three times before it’s sent to the water treatment center.
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization also estimates that 1.3 billion metric tons of food are wasted each year. Cutting that waste by 50 percent at the global level — extending shelf life, and products and packaging that an survive the long, slow supply chains of the developing world — would save 1,350 million cubic kilometres of water annually.
Payback
The benefits are immediate, in lower costs for companies. They are long-ranging, as well, by helping to close the gap between projected need and projected supply in 20 years.
“Agriculture is by far the main user of freshwater,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at World Water Day opening ceremonies Thursday in Rome. “Unless we increase our capacity to use water wisely in agriculture, we will fail to end hunger and we will open the door to a range of other ills, including drought, famine and political instability.”
|
