Water Footprint of Soybean, Maize and Wheat in Pergamino, Argentina

Abstract

Nowadays more than 70% of the fresh water available worldwide is used for agriculture. In Argentina, extensive crops are not usually irrigated, so the cropping production depends mostly on rainfall water. In order to know how many liters of water are needed to produce a ton of soybeans, wheat and maize in the Pergamino district, Province of Buenos Aires, its Water Footprint was estimated by the Hoekstra method. Evaporation and rainfall data was obtained from SIGA INTA platform and production data was obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture. The results indicated that the average annual total water footprint values for soybean, corn and wheat crops for the period 2013-2018 in the Pergamino district, province of Buenos Aires, are 1,388 l∙kg−1, 693 l∙kg−1 and 1,249 l∙kg−1 respectively. These were lower than the global average reference values. The obtained results allowed future analysis advancing in the knowledge of the use of water productivity in grain production.