The energy embodied in different food materials refers to energy input in its production in
agricultural and or livestock farms in direct or indirect forms. In this work, it is intended to
make a comparison among the energy intensity of cereals, cow milk and bull meat
production. The study was performed to evaluate the energy flow in dairy farms and
related feedstuff production farms in the northwest of Iran. According to the results, the
energy intensity of wheat and maize corn is 4.35 and 9.19 MJ kg-1
, respectively, while
they have the energy content of nearly 15 MJ kg-1
as food materials with almost 15%
moisture content. The energy intensity of ECM milk was calculated to be 5.81 MJ kg-1
,
while it has the energy content of only 3.15 MJ kg-1
, with a water content of 87.2%. As for
boneless meat, for a bull mass of up to 400 kg, the energy intensity was 75.4 MJ kg-1
while it was 103.8 MJ kg-1
for bulls up to 700 kg body mass. It is much higher than for
milk and cereals, while, it has only 8.8 MJ kg-1
energy content for the fresh state with
nearly 70% water content. A comparison of these energy values indicates the high use of
resources, harmful to the environment, for products of animal origin, especially for meat.
This issue will get worse with an increasing demand for animal products in the future.
Therefore, replacing bull meat with less energy-intensive food materials such as cereals
and other meat, e.g. poultry, could reduce pressure on the environment.
Quantitative modeling of the Water Footprint and Energy Content of Crop and Animal Products Consumption in Tanzania
