Water use indicators at farm scale: methodology and case study

Abstract

Indicators for water use at farm scale can assist farmers in understanding the water flows on their farms and in optimizing water use by adapting agronomic measures and farm management. The objective of this work is to develop a methodology to estimate water flows at the farm scale, to derive indicators for farm water use, and to apply them in a first case study. After the spatial and temporal boundaries of the farm system and the water flows are defined, three indicators to assess water use at the farm scale are developed: farm water productivity, degree of water utilization, and specific inflow of technical water. Farm water productivity describes the ratio of farm output to water input, where the water input is the total of those water inflows into the farm system that can be assigned to the generation of farm output. Farm output is expressed on a mass basis, food energy basis, and monetary basis. The degree of water utilization characterizes the relationship between productive water to the total water inflow into the farm system, where productive water comprises those water flows that directly contribute to biomass generation via plant and animal metabolism. The specific technical water inflow quantifies the water inflow into the system by technical means relative to the farm area. The application of the methodology in a first case study for a mixed crop-livestock farm with 2869 ha in Germany results in a farm water productivity of 2.30 kg fresh mass per m approaches to optimize water use in farms are discussed as well as the further research required for practical implementation.

Drinking and Cleaning Water Use in a Dairy Cow Barn

“…In rainfed farming, this water is provided by the natural water cycle. Access to precipitation is assured by the access to the land and does not lead to additional costs [6]. The water used in the barn is mainly provided by technical means and represents part of the technical water [6].…”

“…Access to precipitation is assured by the access to the land and does not lead to additional costs [6]. The water used in the barn is mainly provided by technical means and represents part of the technical water [6]. This technical water accounts for less than 5% of total water use in German dairy farming [2], but it is diverted from its natural cycle and so must be paid for.…”

Untitled

“…A utilização destes em atividades pecuárias auxiliam no entendimento do sistema de produção e na avaliação de sua sustentabilidade (Belanger et al, 2012). Indicadores hídricos podem ajudar os agricultores na compreensão do uso da água em sua atividade, otimizando esse uso e a gestão do recurso (Prochnow et al, 2012). Dependendo do objetivo em estimar a relação do consumo de água com a produção agropecuária, várias abordagens em diferentes escalas têm sido desenvolvidas.…”

“…Da mesma forma, o termo eficiência do uso da água tem origem no conceito econômico de produtividade (Prochnow et al, 2012). Ambos os termos são utilizados no contexto da fisiologia, agronomia, hidrologia e ecologia em diferentes escalas e com diferentes variáveis em relação à saída (Zoebl 2006;Moore et al, 2011).…”

Pegada hídrica de suínos e o impacto de estratégias nutricionais

“…Os estudos têm destacado a incompatibilidade entre a disponibilidade hídrica e a demanda de água (Drastig et al, 2010;Hoekstra et al, 2012;Prochnow et al, 2012;Zoebl, 2006). As metodologias são fundamentais para avaliar o desempenho das atividades agropecuárias e relevantes para orientar produtores e consumidores em suas decisões.…”