Once again, as is the case every time drought strikes our country, water usage for crop production becomes an issue and fingers are pointed at the wrong culprits. Concerns are repeatedly raised by experts, the public and the media about inappropriate agricultural choices for the Australian environment, notably the growing of "water-guzzler" crops such as rice and cotton. 'Balancing Act', a CSIRO study on water use released in 2005,(1) was described in The Advertiser as "the final word from the CSIRO on the sheer, wasteful madness of rice and cotton growing upstream on the River Murray".(2) The article reported the study's finding that "a single kilogram of rice took many thousands of litres of water to grow with cotton just a small thirst away in second place."(3)

In terms of food production, it's true that rice requires "many thousands" of litres of water to grow, but this amount shrink to microscopic proportions in comparison with the water needed to produce animal-derived foods, notably meat - the production of which might be described as "sheer, wasteful madness" not only in the upper Murray, but the whole Murray-Darling Basin and indeed, anywhere else it takes place.

In fact, the same article in The Advertiser seemed to ignore a previous study, published in 1998 by CSIRO scientist Professor Wayne Meyer, Program Leader for Sustainable Agriculture in CSIRO's Land and Water Division.

In his study, Dr Meyer provided a comparison of water-use efficiency for different kinds of foods produced, with meat emerging as by far the worst water-to-food converter of all. To grow one kilo of maize, Meyer explained, requires between 540 to 630 litres of water, wheat needs 715 to 750 litres, rice 1,550 to 2,000 litres, and soybeans 1,650 to 2,200 litres, while to produce one kilo of beef requires between 50,000 to 100,000 litres of water.(4)

These figures are no revelation. They first came to public attention more than thirty years ago thanks to books such as Frances Moore Lappé's Diet for a Small Planet, first published in 1971, and Harvesting the Earth, by G. Borgstrom, published two years later. In 1981 Newsweek reported the now legendary quote that "the water that goes into a 1000 pound steer would float a destroyer."(5)

The huge volume of water required to produce meat is basically a function of the uneconomic nature of meat production itself. If cattle graze on grassland unsuitable for growing crops which is watered solely by rain, the result will be a net gain of food in relation to water consumption. Unfortunately, not enough animals can be raised on naturally watered, non-arable land to meet the demand of a meat-hungry, ever growing human population, meaning that intensive methods of meat production are today the norm.

Modern animal farming relies on feeding plant crops to animals in order to raise them for food. However, farm animals convert plant food into meat with a low efficiency - typically around 30 to 40% of plant protein is converted to animal protein, and only 8% in the case of beef production.(6) It is estimated that it takes approximately 16.4 kilos of grain or 30 kilos of forage to produce 1 kilo of lamb; 13.3 kilos of grain to produce 1 kilo of beef; 8.3 kilos of grain to produce 1 kilo of eggs; 6.3 kilos of grain to produce 1 kilo of pork; 4.3 kilos of grain to produce 1 kilo of turkey; and 2.6 kilos of grain to produce 1 kilo of chicken.(7)

This low plant food to meat conversion ratio inevitably translates into high water requirements to produce meat or, indeed, any other animal-derived food. In fact, modern dairy farming is one of the most water intensive food industries. A dairy cow expected to produce an average of 35 litres of milk per day may need 4,700 kilos of forage and 1,600 kilos of concentrated feed in a year.(8) This translates into a requirement of 13,000 litres of water per year to produce two cups of milk each week(9), or 1000 litres of water to grow pasture to feed a cow to produce 1 litre of milk.(10)

Incidentally, the 2005 publication State of South Australia: Trends & Issues reports that Lower Murray irrigators draw 83 gigalitres per annum from the River Murray to water grass that feeds milking cows - the equivalent to 76% of the metered water use on the Adelaide Plain (109 gigalitres per annum).(11) In addition to the water required by the meat and dairy industries to produce animal feed, water is also consumed directly by livestock, used in factory farm and abattoir operations, and required for meat and animal product processing. It has been estimated that to provide one day's food to a meat-eater requires about 15,000 litres of water, to a lacto-ovo vegetarian about 4,500, and to a vegan about 1,000. In other words, it takes less water to produce a whole year's food for a vegan than food for a meat eater for one month.(12)

Among the many proposals and measures put forward to lessen the impact on our drought-stricken environment, reducing animal-derived food consumption, or, better still, switching to a plant food diet, is a step which can make a real difference. And this is true not only in times of natural calamity, but also as a long term means of preserving Australia's and, indeed, the planet's increasingly scarce water resources. As more and more water is used for raising animals instead of producing crops for direct human consumption, all around the world rivers are dying, water tables dropping and wells going dry.(13) In 2000 Lester Brown, of the Worldwatch Institute (an environmental thinktank based in Washington, D.C.) reported that 70% of all water diverted from rivers and pumped from underground is used for irrigation, much of it to produce grain for livestock.(14) Presently, 95% of world soybean production is used for animal feed.(15)

As more than 52 billion animals (nearly eight times the planet's human population) are raised and killed each year for food worldwide,(16) it is evident that the planet's limited resources cannot sustain two ever growing populations - human and animal. One or the other has to give way, and this implies humans moving down the food chain. Growing crops for direct human consumption, rather than cycling them through animals in order to eat their meat and products can provide a sustainable solution to the current water crisis. Habit, tradition and the misinformation peddled by irresponsible meat and dairy industries seem to be the main obstacles to the wider adoption of a vegetarian diet, since a person can live and be healthy on plant foods alone - as demonstrated by many people around the world.

However, this status quo cannot last forever. It is based on a self-destructive exploitation that doesn't take into account the limitations of the natural environment. In the meantime, the impact of the production of animal-derived foods on water resources is ignored, the wrong forms of food production are blamed, and the most imaginative but far-fetched water-saving proposals are put forward - like the suggestion of an SA government-sponsored campaign urging every adult in the State to miss one shower a week.(17)

There are more effective and more hygienic ways to save water than by not showering. As Ed Ayres of the Worldwatch Institute says: "Pass up one hamburger and you'll save as much water as you save by taking 40 showers with a low-flow nozzle."(18) Go vegetarian for good, and you can happily shower every day for the rest of your life!

© Vegetarian Action March 2007

References

1. CSIRO, 2005. Balancing Act: A Triple Bottom Line Analysis of the Autralian Economy. http://www.cse.csiro.au/research/balancingact/accessed 8/3/2007.
2. Lloyd, Tim. 'Rice, Cotton Madness' The Advertiser, May 28, 2005, p.48.
3. Ibid.
4. Meyer, Wayne, 1998. Water For Food. http://www.clw.csiro.au/publications/ water_for_food.pdf, accessed 25/2/2007.
5. 'The Browning of America', Newsweek, February 22, 1981, pp.26 ff. 29. Cited in Lappé, Frances Moore, Diet for a Small Planet, 20th Anniversary Edition, New York/Toronto: Random House, 1991, p.76.
6. Pye, David. 'Why Environmentalists are not Vegetarian', New Vegetarian and Natural Health, Summer 2002/03, pp.28-30.
7. Francione, Gary. An Introduction to Animal Rights. Your Child or the Dog? Temple Press, USA, 2000, p.195.
8. French, Roger and Berriman, Mark. 'Vegetarianism is Really Good for the Environment', New Vegetarian and Natural Health, Summer 2003/04, pp.22-24.
9. Peddie, Clare. 'Every Step Counts', The Advertiser, February 7, 2007, p.19.
10. Parish, Steve. Discover and Learn About Australian Forests and Woodlands, cited in 'Forests and the Greenhouse Effect', EcoVoice, Issue 17, March 2005, p.6.
11. Lothian, Dr Andrew, in State of South Australia; Trends & Issues, edited by Spoehr, John, Wakefield Press, 2005. Cited in Campbell, Malcolm, 'Casting Drought', Eastern Courier, October 25, 2006, pp.21-23.
12. Robbins, John, Diet for a New America, Walpole, N.H., Stillpoint, 1987, p.367.
13. Ayres, Ed. 'Beyond 2000. Will We Still Eat Meat?', TIME Magazine, November 8, 1999.
14. Source: Viva! Life, 16, Autumn/Winter 2000, cited in New Vegetarian and Natural Health, Autumn 2001, p.12.
15. French, Roger and Berriman, Mark, op cit.
16. www.farmusa.org, accessed 8/7/2007
17. 'Miss a Shower', Debate, The Advertiser, January 18, 2007, p. 17.
18. Ayres, Ed, op cit.