Estimation of the Requirement for Water and Ecosystem Benefits of Cow-Calf Production on California Rangeland

摘要

The prolonged California drought raised concerns regarding the use of water for both animal and other agricultural sectors; beef production particularly came under scrutiny. Perceptions of large amounts ofwater use and land degradation by beef production led to a common recommendation of reducing meat consumption to decrease water use.1,2 However, such generalizations, based on estimates of the virtual water content of meat, fail to describe the environmental relevance of water use in a product life cycle.3 Virtual water refers to the volume of water that is used to produce the product, measured over the full supply chain; however, it does not consider what type of water (i.e., blue, green, grey) is usedor when and where it is used by the product.4 All components should be geographically and temporally specified.