:: Eye Opener - CSPI ::

Have you really stopped to think about ALL of the processes that go into the foods you truly enjoy? Have you ever really thought about how much water it takes to irrigate, not only for the fruits and vegetables that we enjoy eating, but also for the crops that are fed to the livestock we eat. Because my blog focuses on water so much, I want to point out just how much water it takes. While touring the food supply chain on the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) website on eating green, I learned that irrigating feed-grain crops and raising livestock requires about 15 TRILLION gallons of water per year. That is over half of all irrigation water used in the US. To produce just ONE pound of beef, it takes about 18,000 gallons of rain and irrigation water. That is MORE than it takes to grow a pound of fruits and vegetables. This is absolutely unbelievable. I would have never guessed that it would take that much water to grow crops just to feed cattle.

Irrigation, while good for crops, does have negatives associated with it that I had not thought of before. When lands are over-irrigated, erosion occurs. This washes away the soil, pesticides and fertilizer into nearby streams and rivers, which in the long run pollute the water, harms the animals and upset our delicate ecosystem. I did not realize that in addition to all of that....over-irrigation also affects the soil quality, including lowering its nutrient content. This certainly is a wake up call for me.

I do realize that we have many areas across the country that have times of drought and have a strong need for irrigation, but I certainly did not realize the impact that it had on everything else in the food chain. It isn't just the farmer that it effects. If his crop doesn't grow, then we don't benefit from his food, be it the fruits and vegetables he is growing or the crops for his cattle. For the consumer, we are end up with food that could have a lower nutrient content because of the excess fertilizers, lower soil quality, and all the pesticides that are in the ground. This information has made me want to look into alternative irrigation methods.