5764_MD_Marta_Antonelli

BCFN Young Earth Solutions YES!

How much water do you need to be a Barilla's chef?

Abstract: Water is a very critical input in the food supply chain, as well as a key concern.

Between 80 and 90 percent of water used by society is used and misused in the production, trade, retail, and consumption of food. The relationship between water and food is inextricable but also invisible. Agribusiness corporations are major agents in the food supply chain. They can play a key role in raising consumers' awareness through ad hoc campaigns and initiatives. Over the past few years, Barilla has been proposing to its consumers a number of recipes on the back of the packages of their products. In order to raise consumers' awareness of the impacts of their consumption choices, we propose to indicate on the back-of-the-package recipe, the total amount and source of water that is needed to produce the ingredients of that recipe.

Author

Marta Antonelli Martina Sartori

How much water do you need to be a Barilla’s chef?

The problem and essential data Water is a very critical input in the food supply chain, as well as a key concern. Between 80 and 90 percent of water used by society is used and misused in the production, trade, retail, and consumption of food. This water has been usefully defined as food-water by Allan (2012). Food-water can be blue water, i.e. surface or groundwater, or green water, i.e. the soil water in the root zone. They differ in terms of opportunity cost and environmental externalities generated from their use. Most economies cannot meet their food requirements with their own water resource endowments and rely on the ‘import’ of virtual water. The relationship between water and food is inextricable but also invisible.

The significance of food-water is still invisible to consumers. Irrational food consumption choices and food waste are major factors contributing to water and food insecurity.

The key players engaged in the different phases of the food supply chain are farmers, the private sector, societies, governments and civil society movements. They are involved in food production, processing and retail, and consumption. Producers and consumers are at the initial and final extremes of this very long supply chain. These agents determine the sustainability of water resource use in the supply chain at different levels. Farmers are the managers of water resources and key players in improving water productivity and promoting the sustainable intensification of its use. Agribusiness corporations are major agents in the food supply chain. They manufacture, trade and retail food commodities. A number of these corporations have recognised the value of water and its role in the food supply chain, and engaged in the reduction of the water footprint in their operations.

Moreover, agribusiness corporations can play a role in raising consumers’ awareness through ad hoc campaigns and initiatives. In fact, although consumers are at the last stage of the food supply chain, they have a major potential to influence the behaviour of the supply chain but they are still not fully aware of the impact of their diet preferences and consumption on natural systems.

Proposed solution In order to achieve a more sustainable use and management of water resources in the food supply chain, a collective understanding of the ‘invisible’ water involved in the food supply chain should be developed. A first step is to recognise the pivotal role played by the private sector in securitising food-water. Not only should food corporations be aware of their ecological impacts and engage in actions to reduce their footprints, but they can also use their products as a means to inform and sensitise consumers’ awareness of particular issues. This potential is higher when the product is a consumer good. The engagement of consumers is vital as their food preferences can influence the behaviour of the food supply chain by acting as a stimulus for business.

Over the past few years, Barilla has been proposing to its consumers a number of recipes on the back of the packages of their products. In order to raise consumers’ awareness of the impacts of their consumption choices, we propose to indicate on the back-of-thepackage recipe, the total amount and source of water that is needed to produce the ingredients of that recipe. These ingredients typically include agricultural and/or dairy products. In order to provide consumers with meaningful information on the water intensity of food commodities, a benchmark should be included as well. This benchmark can compare, for instance, the given recipe with a meat-based meal, which is more water-

intensive. The volume of water that is actually used to produce a specific product has been defined as its virtual water content (Allan 1993). Once the amount of water used to produce a certain good is known, the virtual water content can be easily calculated. As an example, we show below how to calculate the total virtual water content of a typical dish of the Italian tradition.

Spaghetti with tomato and basil Ingredients: • 100g of tomatoes • 5 leaves of basil • 200g of spaghetti The data on the virtual water content are typically available as cubic meter of water (1 m3=1000 litres) needed to produce a kilogram of something. Let us suppose that: 3 • 1 kg of tomatoes needs 1 m of water (1000 litres), of which 400 litres are blue water 3 • 25 leaves of basil need 0.5 m of water (500 litres), of which 100 litres are blue water 3 • 1 kg of spaghetti needs 10 m of water (10,000 litres), of which 7000 litres are blue water With a simple equivalence, the virtual water content of each ingredient is: • 100 g of tomato: 100 litres of water, of which 40 are blue water • 5 leaves of basil: 100 litres of water, of which 20 are blue water • 200 g of spaghetti: 2,000 litres of water, of which 1400 are blue water Total virtual water content of the recipe: 2200 litres of water, of which 1460 litres are blue water Chapagain and Hoekstra (2004, 2010) carried out a comprehensive estimate of the virtual water content of a great variety of crops and livestock products. Importantly, they distinguish between the sources of water used. The proposed solution is potentially applicable across countries and brands.

Feasibility assessment The implementation costs of the suggested idea are relatively low. There are no impacts on the supply chain, except for the modification of the product packaging that is required to add the information on the back of packages. Marketing costs mainly vary depending on the strategy developed both in terms of graphics and potential advertising. Other costs relate to data collection and validation. As data are already available, the phase of collection and validation for 30 recipes, for instance would require 30 man-days with a reasonable contingency. Notwithstanding, the exact amount of total costs depends on the project implementation strategy and requires an assessment to be developed in conjunction with the food corporation.