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Re: water for food

Friends and Colleagues,

         I agree, the whole table looks suspicious. Perhaps, I should have
added a qualifier: "The data cited in this post have not been independently
verified (by me-maybe others have). The views expressed in the message are
not those of the messenger." I will, however, send a copy of this post to
the originator of the water for food post and give him a chance to reply. As
far as I can tell, the source of the data is a British Journal, but for all
I know, geez, maybe the figures are for livestock in the Sahel desert.
Perhaps sandy soils account for the spud figure, but I doubt it.

How about it SANnetters-does anyone have data to support or challenge the
"New Scientist" data?



At 10:04 AM 7/23/97 -0400, you wrote:
>C'mon, get serious.  500 liters of water for a kilo of potatoes?
>100,000 liters for a kilo of beef?  Strains credulity, well past my
>breaking point.
>
>Whoever is responsible for this chart owes all of us a closer look at
>how these figures were derived.
>
>Looks cooked up to me, in a plot to pile on animal agriculture in
>general, and beef producers in particular.
>
>Beef takes a bum rap.  Under grazing systems, cattle utilize forages
>unsuitable for human consumption, reducing tillage, benefitting water
>quality and erosion control.
>
>I challenge anyone to justify these remarkable estimates.  Until someone
>does, all of us should consider them BS.

>On 07/21/97 at 15:01:18 Douglas B. Johnson said:
>>Friends and Colleagues,
>>	I thought this might interest you.
>
>>>From: ROBERT BAYLIS <Baylis@CARDIFF.AC.UK>
>>>To: infoterra@cedar.univie.ac.at
>>>Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 13:57:39 GMT
>>>Subject: INFOTERRA: Water for food
>>>Priority: normal
>>>Sender: owner-infoterra@cedar.univie.ac.at
>>>Reply-To: ROBERT BAYLIS <Baylis@CARDIFF.AC.UK>
>>>
>>>I thought this data might provide food for thought:
>>>
>>>Litres of water required to produce 1kg of food:
>>>
>>>Potatoes       500
>>>Wheat          900
>>>Alfalfa           900
>>>Sorghum     1110
>>>Maize          1400
>>>Rice            1910
>>>Soya beans 2000
>>>Chicken      3500
>>>Beef       100,000
>>>
>>>Source: New Scientist 1.2.97
>>>
>>>-
>>>message sent by infoterra@cedar.univie.ac.at
>>>to signoff from the list, send an email to
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>>>unsubscribe infoterra your@email.address
>>>-
Best Wishes,

Douglas B. Johnson, Ph.D.

(Office)
Outreach Specialist, Quality of Life Project
CSARE (Consortium for Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
c/o CIAS (Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1450 Linden Drive, Room 146
Madison, WI 53706
(608) 262-9997
djohnso2@facstaff.wisc.edu
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