Regional variability in land and water use in fruit and vegetable production in the U.S.

Authors: MCCARTHY, ASHLEY - University Of Vermont; GRIFFIN, TIMOTHY - Tufts University; SRINIVASAN, SUMEETA - Tufts University; Peters, Christian

Submitted to: Urban Agriculture and Regional Food Systems
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/26/2021
Publication Date: 12/31/2021
Citation: McCarthy, A., Griffin, T., Srinivasan, S., Peters, C.J. 2021. Regional variability in land and water use in fruit and vegetable production in the U.S. Urban Agriculture and Regional Food Systems. https://doi.org/10.1002/uar2.20020.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/uar2.20020

Interpretive Summary: Public concern about the environmental consequences of our diets is growing and regional food systems have emerged as one strategy to reduce these impacts. However, the potential environmental benefits of regional food systems are still largely untested and more empirical evidence is needed. Land and water are critical inputs to agriculture, but natural resource requirements and the associated environmental impacts are highly dependent on the location of crop production. This study used statistical analysis of crop yield and water footprint data to examine regional variability in land and water requirements and location-specific tradeoffs between these resources. We found a statistically significant difference in both regional land requirements and regional water requirements for nearly all the seventeen fruit and vegetable crops examined. Our results also show that there is an inverse relationship between land and blue water requirements for eight of the crops, indicating that location-specific tradeoffs exist for these crops. Understanding these regional differences and tradeoffs in natural resource requirements can help us evaluate the environmental implications of a more regionalized food system and avoid burden shifting.

Technical Abstract: Public concern about the environmental consequences of our diets is growing and regional food systems have emerged as one strategy to reduce these impacts. However, the potential environmental benefits of regional food systems are still largely untested and more empirical evidence is needed. Land and water are critical inputs to agriculture, but natural resource requirements and the associated environmental impacts are highly dependent on the location of crop production. This study used statistical analysis of crop yield and water footprint data to examine regional variability in land and water requirements and location-specific tradeoffs between these resources. We found a statistically significant difference in both regional land requirements and regional water requirements for nearly all the seventeen fruit and vegetable crops examined. Our results also show that there is an inverse relationship between land and blue water requirements for eight of the crops, indicating that location-specific tradeoffs exist for these crops. Understanding these regional differences and tradeoffs in natural resource requirements can help us evaluate the environmental implications of a more regionalized food system and avoid burden shifting.