Research on water footprint of cattle production featured in 2020 Nebraska Beef Cattle Report
DWFI first introduced the Nebraska Water Productivity Report (NWPR) at the 2019 Water for Food Global Conference in April, then reviewed, finalized and officially launched it at the World Food Prize conference in Des Moines, Iowa, in October 2019. The report underscores Nebraska's leadership in crop and water management.
Over the last 25 years, the state's corn and soybean yields have grown considerably, with less water use. This significant increase in grain yields, combined with the adoption of improved farm-level management, advanced irrigation systems and regulatory limits on irrigation pumping, has helped improve the water productivity of crop and livestock production in the state. From 1990 to 2014, the water productivity of soybeans and corn increased by 79 percent and 71 percent, respectively.
As an outcome of the NWPR, the Food and Agricultural Organization invited DWFI to contribute to this year's influential State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) report. The contributed articles were "Closing the water productivity gaps of crop and livestock products: a global analysis," with DWFI research associate Mesfin Mekonnen as the lead author, and "Water use in the food industry," authored by Yulie Meneses, DWFI's water for food processing specialist. Information from these articles was used in various chapters of the forthcoming SOFA report.
The NWPR also was featured in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Animal Science Department's 2020 Nebraska Beef Cattle Report - an annual summary of research conducted by scientists and graduate students for use by livestock producers, extension educators and agribusiness.
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