Sustainability of the water footprint of the Spanish pork industry

Titre

Sustainability of the water footprint of the Spanish pork industry

Ecological Indicators

Créateur

Ángel De Miguel

Arjen Y. Hoekstra

Eloy García-Calvo

Sujet

Animal feed

Iberian pig

Pork

Sustainability assessment

Swine

Water dependency

Water footprint

Date

10/2015

doi

10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.05.023

uri

https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1470160X15002459

Résumé

Around 92% ofthe humanity’s footprint(WF) relates to the agricultural sector, and a considerable propor-
tion of this is associated with animal farming. In Spain, the swine sector accounts for 11% of agricultural

output in economic terms and makes substantial demands on freshwater resources. In this study we
estimate the WF of the Spanish pig sector at an average 19.5 billion m3/yr (82% green, 8% blue, 10% grey)
over the period 2001–08. During this period the WF increased by 23%, due to growing exports. About half
the water needed to produce concentrate feed comes from Spain, with the remaining 50% embodied in
imported feedstock products. When comparing the blue and grey WFs of feed production in the source
regions with indicators of water scarcity and water pollution, we find that most of the feed produced
in Spain, unlike that imported, comes from watersheds where freshwater resources are overexploited.
The evaluation of the WF of four different pig production systems shows that pigs raised in extensive
systems have the largest WF per tonne of live animal. However, water pollution is a particular problem
in industrial systems given the high geographical concentration of animals. The swine sector is one of
the largest consumers of natural resources in Spain and should, therefore, be an important focal point in
agricultural, environmental and water policies.

volume

57

pages

465-474

Titre abrégé

Ecological Indicators

Langue

en

issn

1470160X