A 2010 study by Netherlands academics Mesfin Mekkonen and Arjen Hoekstra of the University of Twente took global averages of the amount of water required to produce a kilogram of different types of food, with vegetables significantly outperforming other agricultural products.
Mr Jordan Brooke-Barnett, Ausveg environment spokesperson, said: “When it comes to the food groups, vegetables win hands down for water efficiency.
“The study found that while vegetables only required 322 litres of water on average to produce a kilogram of food, animal products were much more water-intensive, with 3265 litres required to produce a kilogram of eggs and 5553 litres to produce that same kilogram in butter.
Of the meats presented in the study, chicken meat was the most water-efficient requiring 4325 litres per kilogram, while pig meat and sheep/goat meet averaged 5988 and 8763 litres of water respectively. Cows were by far the worst for water efficiency, however, requiring 15415 litres per kilogram of meat.
“Findings show that a kilogram of vegetables is 10 times as water efficient as a kilogram of eggs and 47 times as efficient as a kilogram of beef,” Brooke-Barnett added.
Source: Ausveg
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