Livestock and water resources: a comparative study of water footprint in different farming systems
| dc.contributor.author | Arrien, María Macarena | |
| dc.contributor.author | Martínez Aldaya, Maite | |
| dc.contributor.author | Rodríguez, Corina Iris | |
| dc.contributor.department | Ciencias | es_ES |
| dc.contributor.department | Zientziak | eu |
| dc.contributor.department | Institute on Innovation and Sustainable Development in Food Chain - ISFOOD | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-06-26T11:30:05Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-06-26T11:30:05Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025-03-05 | |
| dc.date.updated | 2025-06-26T11:23:00Z | |
| dc.description | Datos de investigación alojados en: http://hdl.handle.net/11336/248559 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Livestock production systems are major consumers of freshwater, potentially compromising the sustainability of water resources at production sites. The water footprint (WF) quantifies the water consumed and polluted by a product or service. The aim of this study was to evaluate the WF of steer production from the cradle to the farm gate in representative intensive, extensive, and mixed farms located in the southeast of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. The WF to produce a live steer varied between 4247 and 5912 m3/animal. The extensive system contains the highest green WF but is also the most sustainable compared to industrial and mixed productions since it does not have an associated pollutant load or blue water. This work is the first approach to calculating the WF of live steers in Argentina carried out with local and detailed data and focuses on grey WF related to nitrogen leaching from effluents in intensive systems, showing that the blue and grey footprints increase as production intensifies. The information may be relevant for consumers and producers to make more informed decisions. Furthermore, it is essential for governments to promote sustainable practices in livestock farming, recognizing the dependence on water resources both domestically and throughout international supply chains, in order to assess their environmental policies and ensure national food security. | en |
| dc.description.sponsorship | This research was supported by Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) in Argentina through the grant 'PIBA-A-28720210100527CO', and by Asociación Universitaria Iberoamericana de Posgrado (AUIP), a sponsoring institution of the Academic Mobility Scholarship Program developed by Maria Macarena Arrien in the Public University of Navarra (UPNA) in 2023. | |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Arrien, M. M., Aldaya, M. M., Rodríguez, C. I. (2025). Livestock and water resources: a comparative study of water footprint in different farming systems. Sustainability, 17(5), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17052251. | |
| dc.identifier.doi | 10.3390/su17052251 | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 2071-1050 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://academica-e.unavarra.es/handle/2454/54332 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | |
| dc.publisher | MDPI | |
| dc.relation.ispartof | Sustainability (2025), vol. 17, núm. 5 | |
| dc.relation.publisherversion | https://doi.org/10.3390/su17052251 | |
| dc.rights | © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. | |
| dc.rights.accessRights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess | |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | |
| dc.subject | Blue water | en |
| dc.subject | Feeding scenarios | en |
| dc.subject | Green water | en |
| dc.subject | Grey water | en |
| dc.subject | Industrial versus grazing systems | en |
| dc.subject | Steer production systems | en |
| dc.title | Livestock and water resources: a comparative study of water footprint in different farming systems | en |
| dc.type | info:eu-repo/semantics/article | |
| dc.type.version | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion | |
| dspace.entity.type | Publication | |
| relation.isAuthorOfPublication | fcc7efae-8af2-461f-9f31-3170bf969849 | |
| relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery | fcc7efae-8af2-461f-9f31-3170bf969849 |