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Almonds are ~9% or so of our ag water supply, feed for meat and meat products use 50%+ of our ag water supply. Note that agricultural water use is ~40% of wate
by codemac 6y ago
Almonds are ~9% or so of our ag water supply, feed for meat and meat products use 50%+ of our ag water supply.
Note that agricultural water use is ~40% of water use.
Also note that California produces 80% of the world's almonds, but something like 1% of the world's meat.
It's not even sensible to discuss almonds in the face of water use for meat production. As long as your calories are filtered through another mammal, it will always be extremely inefficient.
- mod 6y agoAlmonds have got to be a tiny percentage of our food supply as compared to meat, though. It would make more sense as a water-to-calorie comparison of almonds vs meat.
- JoeAltmaier 6y agoYeah 2lbs per person per year in the US.
- codemac 6y ago> It would make more sense as a water-to-calorie comparison of almonds vs meat. Alfalfa uses a metric crapton more water per calorie, and is the main source of feed for many cattle & hogs. I think if you do the water-to-calorie comparison, the numbers will only get much much worse for meat due to the mammal's energy that needs to be fed, but I'm more than happy to be proven wrong.
- mod 6y agoSure, but I've never seen a farmer watering their hayfield, and I live in the country so I would have. I personally don't consider it "water usage" for a plant to soak up rain; it only becomes a problem when we're pulling water out of non-replenishing sources, or those that don't replenish as quickly as we use them up. Aquifers etc. Or diverting entire streams & rivers, things like that. My garden "uses" a lot of water each year, but it's all rainwater. I don't pump any water onto it from anywhere. If it weren't my garden, it would be some native plants in their stead. Edit: Also, I got curious and googled this topic, came up with this: https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=17721 https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=1772...
- porb121 6y agoyes, we should also consume less meat in addition to consuming less almonds.
- tidepod12 6y ago>Almonds are ~9% or so of our ag water supply, feed for meat and meat products use 50%+ of our ag water supply. Is this in all of the US, or...? Water supply is a very localized thing, so comparing water usage in say, Iowa to water usage in California isn't really apple-to-apples. You won't solve California droughts by reducing water usage in Iowa, for example. >Also note that California produces 80% of the world's almonds, but something like 1% of the world's meat. If these numbers are accurate, it seems like it's more sensible to discuss almonds in the face of water usage and eschew talking about meat, since California in the midst of its many droughts is specifically using a lot of its local water supply on almonds, not meat. edit: the numbers I found from a quick Wikipedia search are that 11% of Cali's Ag water is used on pasture forage (though this doesn't necessarily mean it's for meat; from other information on the Wiki page it looks like a lot of this pasture forage is for horses), and 18% on Alfalfa which is exported as cattle feed. So that's anywhere from 18% - 29% on "meat and meat products", whereas 34% is "fruit and nuts" (it's unstated how much of that is almonds).
- stainforth 6y agoYou're saying not to look at how almonds are grown in California?
- jmpman 6y agoAnyone else really want an almond fed Kobe beef right about now?