"I'm writing in response to a column published in the Rotorua Daily Post and Bay of Plenty Times on February 22, 2017, titled: Stock answers on food past use-by date.
Rachel Stewart refers to "a single pound of beef takes, on average, 1800 gallons of water", but that's not New Zealand beef. The gallons measure is a bit of a giveaway that this is a US measurement where production systems are very different to New Zealand. Our beef is free range, pasture-fed on low-input, low-impact farms - the sort of farms international commentators are saying all beef should be produced on.
In terms of water usage, rainwater is the biggest source of water for growing beef in New Zealand. An average of just 212.4 litres of water per kilo of beef (live-weight) is taken from other water sources such as lakes, rivers and groundwater, to meet the needs of the entire production system.
To put it in perspective, an average car wash with a hose uses between 100 and 300 litres of water.
It is misleading to continue to report figures such as "1800 gallons of water" when this is not relevant to the New Zealand context. We know these figures are incorrect as a full water footprint for New Zealand beef and sheep meat was done in 2012.
