Fact Sheet
Tough Questions About Beef Sustainability:
Does Beef Really Use That Much Water?
Ashley Broocks, Justin Buchanan, Sara Place, Megan Rolf, and Michelle Calvo-Lorenzo | Oklahoma State University
When looking for an answer to the question, “How
much water is required to produce beef?” one may find
a variety of answers. Water use estimates, or water
footprints (defined as the amount of water used per
unit of product), are available in the scientific literature
and indicate that water footprints range from 3171 up
to 23,9652 gallons per pound of boneless beef.
Why is the range so large? The range in estimates is
mostly due to the methodology used by researchers.
For example, some have counted all precipitation
that falls on croplands, pastures, and rangelands
towards the total water use of beef. Others have left
out precipitation as it would fall on the land regardless
of whether it was used for beef production or not.
However, irrigation water use is always considered
towards the total water use of beef.
Regardless of methodology, the production of feed for
cattle is the single largest source of water consumption
in the beef value chain (~95% of the water used to
produce a pound of beef). The relative importance
of this water use is highly dependent on location,
because unlike greenhouse gas emissions, water use
and access is a highly regionalized environmental
issue. For example, in the southern High Plains
approximately 30% of cropland is irrigated with water
from the Ogallala aquifer.3 In some, but not all cases,
water is being drawn from the aquifer at a faster rate
than it is being recharged.3 Clearly, the use of a unit
of water in such an area would be viewed and valued
differently than a unit of water used in an area that
primarily relies on precipitation water for agricultural
production. As a result, one must be cautious about
generalizing water footprints for beef or any other
product on a national scale.
However, there are examples of innovative systems
that integrate beef and crop production in the
southern High Plains to more efficiently use water.
In a four-year experiment, researchers compared a
wheat-cotton crop rotation with one that integrated
beef cattle, rye, wheat, and old world bluestem (a
perennial warm season grass) in the High Plains of
Texas. They found that the integrated beef cattle and
crop system used 23% less irrigation water than the
system with crops only.4 The increase in irrigation
water use efficiency was mostly due to the
incorporation of perennial warm season grass into
the farming system.4 Perennial grasses would not be
as valuable to sustainable farming systems without
cattle that have the ability to digest such grasses
because humans cannot directly consume and digest
grass. While this is one example, it demonstrates
that beef cattle can play a key role in water
conservation.
Though the U.S. beef industry reduced its water use
by 3% from 2005 to 2011,5 many opportunities exist to
further improve water use across the beef value chain
(Figure 1). One area that is often overlooked
and is important to all aspects of sustainability, not
just water use, is reducing food waste. Food waste
has an impact on the amount of water required
to produce food for the nourishment of people. If
prepared beef is thrown away and not consumed, all
of the water use from feed production, cow-calf and
stocker operations, feedlots, packing plants, retailers,
foodservice, and the consumer has been used but has
not contributed to human nourishment. Reducing food
waste can help reduce the water footprint of beef and
all other foods.
Figure 1. Examples of opportunities to reduce the water footprint of beef throughout the beef value chain.*
Bottom line: The estimated water required for beef production greatly depends on the methodology used in scientific calculations, especially when considering whether or not precipitation water is included in water footprints. U.S. specific estimates put beef water use at 3171, 4416 and 8087 gallons per pound of boneless beef when precipitation water is not accounted for in calculations.
Additionally, the water footprint of beef greatly depends on the amount of feed consumed by cattle because of the reliance on irrigation to produce crops (~95% of beef’s water footprint). As with all food production, reducing food waste and efficiently utilizing irrigation water, particularly in waterstressed regions, is an important aspect of beef sustainability and water use.
Literature Cited
- 1 Capper, J.L. 2011. The environmental impact of beef production in the
United States: 1977 compared with 2007. J. Anim. Sci. 89:4249-4261.
- 2 Pimentel, D. J. Houser, E. Preiss, O. White, H. Fang, L. Mesnick, T.
Barsky, S. Tariche, J. Schreck, and S. Alpert. 1997. Water resources:
Agriculture, the environment, and society. BioSci. 47: 97-106.3
- 3 Scanlon, B.R., C. C. Faunt, L. Longuevergne, R. C. Reedy, W. M. Alley,
V.L. McGuire, and P.B. McMahon. 2012. Groundwater depletion and
sustainability of irrigation in the US High Plains and Central Valley.
Proc. Natl. Aca. Sci. 109: 9320-9325.
- 4 Allen, V. G., C. P. Brown, R. Kellison, E. Segarra, T. Wheeler, P. A. Dotray,
J. C. Conkwright, C. J. Green, and V. Acosta-Martinez. 2005. Integrating
cotton and beef production to reduce water withdrawal from the
Ogallala aquifer in the Southern High Plains. J. Agron. 97: 556-567.
- 5. Battagliese, T., J. Andrade, I. Schulze, B. Uhlman, C. Barcan. 2013.
More sustainable beef optimization project: Phase 1 final report. BASF
Corporation. Florham Park, NJ.
- 6. Beckett, J.L. and J.W. Oltjen. 1993. Estimation of the water
requirement for beef production in the United States. J. Anim. Sci.
71:818-826.
- 7. Rotz, C.A., B.J. Isenberg, K.R. Stackhouse-Lawson, and E.J. Pollak.
2013. A simulation-based approach for evaluating and comparing
the environmental footprints of beef production systems. J. Anim. Sci.
91(11):5427-5437.