Kenneth Brooks

Dr.Lawson

AG 351

January 17, 2021

Agricultural Water Use in the Media

The issue that I have found is an article called “Study finds decline in water use in ag,

food production.” It is concerned with the consumption of water that agriculture has had in the

past and how in the US at least, there was a decline in water usage in the year of 2020.

The stakeholders in this circumstance are the farmers using the water and the

environment at large. At the beginning of the paper the issue is immediately said to be concerned

with climate change.

This is an issue in agriculture because agriculture accounts for over 2/3 of water usage in

the US and, for people concerned about the environment, this is a problem. As the global

concern of climate change increases the concern for water usage increases as well. This study

showed that water usage in agriculture decreased due to people switching from red meat to white

meat more and more. White meat uses 3.5 times less water than red meat.

This matter impacts the agriculture industry because if people see that agriculture is

already using less and less water then people will feel less compelled to act against the

agricultural community by pushing legislators to make laws governing their usage of water.
 This issue matters to the public because water usage in time will become a bigger issue

that impacts individuals more and more. If we are someday limited to the amount of water that

we consume one day, then we will have to make cuts in the agricultural industry.

My fact-based opinion on how to fix this issue is to make the switch from eating real

meat to one day eating artificial meat. Since meat production takes so much water and plant

production takes relatively little, then it will be become more necessary to make the switch as

water becomes less and less available.