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Water footprint: applying the water footprint assessment method to Australian agriculture
Author(s) -
Hossain Iqbal,
Imteaz Monzur A,
Khastagir Anirban
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.11044
Subject(s) - water use , agriculture , environmental science , water scarcity , footprint , crop , carbon footprint , agricultural engineering , agronomy , agroforestry , geography , biology , engineering , greenhouse gas , ecology , archaeology
BACKGROUND Water footprint assessment is essential for the evaluation of water scarcity that considers both direct and indirect water consumption along the supply chain. This paper presents the estimation of water footprint for locally grown fruits and vegetables in Australia. Water footprint was calculated based on the framework developed in the Water Footprint Assessment Manual for the crops which are the most practicable to grow in Australia. Nine different crops (apples, grapes, tomatoes, oranges, peaches/nectarines, cherries, potatoes, carrots/turnips and almonds) in the agricultural industry were selected and identified as the most water‐consumptive crop and least water‐consumptive crop. For each type of crop, the three main water footprint components (blue, green, and grey water) were calculated. RESULTS It was found that almond had the highest water footprint (6671.96 m 3 ton −1 ) and tomato had the lowest water footprint (212.24 m 3 ton −1 ) in Australia. From the global comparison, it is revealed that total water footprint for Australian crops is much higher than the corresponding international average values, except for tomatoes, potatoes and almonds. Also, almonds had the highest water footprint among the nine crops investigated. CONCLUSION The study provides an insight into future sustainable cropping patterns in Australia, which suggest that tomatoes, carrots/turnips, potatoes and apples should continue to be grown in Australia, whereas stone fruit (e.g., almonds) should no longer be grown because of its high water footprint. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry