@article {JRN55288,
	title = {Water footprint of rangeland beef production in New Mexico},
	journal = {Water},
	volume = {13},
	year = {2021},
	month = {7/15/2021},
	pages = {1950},
	abstract = {New Mexico (NM) has been identified as the state in the US that will be most adversely impacted by climate change and associated water stress. Roughly 92\% of NM is rangeland, most of which is grazed by beef cattle. We calculated the blue (surface and ground) and green (precipitation) water footprints (WF) of NM beef cattle industry (cow-calf, backgrounding, and feedlot). This analysis indicated that the weighted average WF of NM beef cattle was 28,203 L/kg meat. The majority of the WF was accounted for green water (82\%; 23,063 L/kg meat) used by rangeland forages. Blue water accounted for only 18\% (5140 L/kg meat) of the total beef WF estimate. The relative contribution of green vs. blue water varied significantly among the different phases of beef production. In cow-calf, green water accounted for 99.5\% of the WF whereas blue water, accounted for 100\% of beef WF during backgrounding and feedlot. Based on our estimate, NM cow-calf operations is about a third or a quarter of the blue water (m3/year) used to produce corn or wheat, and only 5\% or less of the water used to produce cotton or hay. In NM, irrigation accounts for about 84\% of freshwater use followed by public/domestic use of 10\%. Mining, thermo-electric, livestock production, aquaculture, and industrial uses collectively account for the other 6\%.},
	keywords = {blue water; green water; drought; forage crops; climate change; New Mexico},
	doi = {10.3390/w13141950},
	url = {files/bibliography/21-023.pdf},
	author = {Mohammed N. Sawalhah and Hatim M. E. Geli and Jerry L. Holechek and Andr{\'e}s F. Cibils and S. Spiegal and Craig Gifford}
}
