Water Footprint of Rangeland Beef Production in New Mexico

New Mexico (NM) has been identified as the state in the US that will be most adversely impacted by climate change and associated water stress. Roughly 92% of NM is rangeland, most of which is grazed by beef cattle. We calculated the blue (surface and ground) and green (precipitation) water footprint...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water (Basel) 2021-07, Vol.13 (14), p.1950
Main Authors: Sawalhah, Mohammed N., Geli, Hatim M. E., Holechek, Jerry L., Cibils, Andres F., Spiegal, Sheri, Gifford, Craig
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural commodities
Agricultural production
Agriculture
Aquaculture
Beef
Beef cattle
Beef industry
Cattle
Cattle industry
Climate change
Cotton
Crops
Economic development
Ecosystems
Environmental aspects
Exports
Feedlots
Food
Footprint analysis
Industrial applications
Livestock
Livestock production
Measurement
Meat production
Nutrition research
Precipitation
Productivity
Rangelands
United States
Water consumption
Water shortages
Water stress
Water supply
Water use
Wheat
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Summary:New Mexico (NM) has been identified as the state in the US that will be most adversely impacted by climate change and associated water stress. Roughly 92% of NM is rangeland, most of which is grazed by beef cattle. We calculated the blue (surface and ground) and green (precipitation) water footprints (WF) of NM beef cattle industry (cow-calf, backgrounding, and feedlot). This analysis indicated that the weighted average WF of NM beef cattle was 28,203 L/kgmeat. The majority of the WF was accounted for green water (82%; 23,063 L/kgmeat) used by rangeland forages. Blue water accounted for only 18% (5140 L/kgmeat) of the total beef WF estimate. The relative contribution of green vs. blue water varied significantly among the different phases of beef production. In cow-calf, green water accounted for 99.5% of the WF whereas blue water, accounted for 100% of beef WF during backgrounding and feedlot. Based on our estimate, NM cow-calf operations is about a third or a quarter of the blue water (m3/year) used to produce corn or wheat, and only 5% or less of the water used to produce cotton or hay. In NM, irrigation accounts for about 84% of freshwater use followed by public/domestic use of 10%. Mining, thermo-electric, livestock production, aquaculture, and industrial uses collectively account for the other 6%.
ISSN:2073-4441
2073-4441
DOI:10.3390/w13141950