What's your water footprint?
Farm and Ranch March 3, 2010 We have heard a lot about carbon footprints. What’s next? How about your water footprint? That was a topic covered by Carole Brookins, a policy and trade specialist, speaking at the recent U.S. Grain Council’s 7th International Marketing Conference. Brookins: “There is a water footprint network that‘s begun. Pepsi, Starbucks, Coca Cola is actively involved. The Norwegian government is supporting work in this area. And agriculture, processing and production are going to be a target. Food is a big consumer of water. Twenty gallons of water to produce one pint of beer. One Hundred thirty-two gallons of water to produce a two liter bottle of soft drinks. There will pressure on farms and pressure on the food industry from inputs to supermarket shelves to reduce H2O content.” And on the subject of carbon footprints Brookins told her audience; Brookins: “If you have never heard of the Carbon Disclosure Project, you should. Because there is a whole move afoot on carbon footprint labeling and all the major food retailers led by WalMart, and many of the processors are part of the Carbon Disclosure Project to set carbon standards and harmonization for carbon labeling.” Brookins also still sees carbon trading being a big thing noting the SEC recently required public companies to put in their filings what they are doing to manage climate risk. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
