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Argentina stands as the leading producer and exporter of olive products in the Americas, with the province of La Rioja as its main productive area. Since the 1990s, the olive grove cultivated area and related agro-industry in La Rioja have expanded. However, the resulting wastewater has generally been neglected. The water footprint (WF) provides information about the water volume consumed and polluted by a production process. Since the 1990s, agricultural and agro-industrial activities in La Rioja have experienced substantial growth. This study aims to analyze the generation, quality, and management of Oil Mill Wastewater (OMWW) using the grey WF of chloride and nitrate as an indicator and focusing on two olive mills (OM) in La Rioja. Additionally, it seeks to examine the relationship between the international trade of provincial olive oil and the estimated grey WF. For the diagnosis of OMWW generation, a description of the production process was made coupled with flow and physico-chemical characterization. The total grey WF was 8.69 and 45.5 L water/L olive oil for OM 1 and OM 2, respectively. Nitrate was identified as the critical pollutant. The grey virtual water export related to the export of olive oil was 5569 m3 for OM 1 and 28,000 m3 for OM 2. The provincial grey virtual water export related to olive oil was 161,955 m3 with major trade destinations including Spain, the United States, and Brazil. The article analyses for the first time the grey WF of olive oil industries and assess the related grey virtual water exports. This research represents a step forward in the knowledge of wastewater management in the olive oil sector and facilitates the search for solutions to minimize negative environmental impacts while promoting cleaner production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International trade of soybeans has increased substantially over recent decades. Its environmental toll is routinely linked to deforestation and biodiversity loss. However, soybean trade also imposes a huge demand on water and land resources, in individual countries and globally. Such a burden, and its underlying sectoral drivers, is frequently overlooked within the current research and policy agenda around sustainable soybean supply chains. This study evaluates the Virtual Water Trade (VWT) and Virtual Land Trade (VLT) of global soybean trade and reveals which countries and sectors are responsible. Soybean-related VWT and VLT are estimated by combining physical import and export data and associated resource use information from 166 countries during the period 2000–2016. Over this period global virtual soybean-related virtual water and land trade grew by 298% and 250% respectively. In 2016, 812 Gm3 of water use and 41 Mha of land use was directly embodied in international soybean trade. This corresponds to one-third of water and land used to grow soybean globally. Soybean-related VWT and VLT was mainly driven by demand in China, the Netherlands and Mexico, for soybean grown in the US, Brazil and Argentina. Animal feed is responsible for around three-quarters of this resource use. A reduction in the consumption of animal products or switching to direct human consumption of soybeans would reduce the overall demand for soybean production and associated resource use. Although welcome, calls for deforestation-free soybean supply chains do not go far enough to reduce the large, global water and land demand of soybean trade. The research and policy agenda around soybean trade warrants a broader focus on water and land use and whether this represents an efficient, and logical, allocation of resources within the context of food provision and national resource security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture is the largest fresh water consuming sector, and maize is the most produced and consumed crop worldwide. The water footprint (WF) methodology quantifies and evaluates the water volumes consumed and polluted by a given crop, as well as its impacts. In this work, we quantified for the first time the green WF (soil water from precipitation that is evapotranspired) and the green virtual water exports of maize from Buenos Aires province, Argentina, during 2016–2017, due to the relevance of this region in the world maize trade. Furthermore, at local level, we quantified the green, blue (evapotranspired irrigation), and grey (volume of water needed to assimilate a pollution load) WF of maize in a pilot basin. The green WF of maize in the province of Buenos Aires ranged between 170 and 730 m3/ton, with the highest values in the south following a pattern of yields. The contribution of this province in terms of green virtual water to the international maize trade reached 2213 hm3/year, allowing some water-scarce nations to ensure water and water-dependent food security and avoid further environmental impacts related to water. At the Napaleofú basin scale, the total WF of rainfed maize was 358 m3/ton (89% green and 11% grey) and 388 m3/ton (58% green, 25% blue, and 17% grey) for the irrigated crop, showing that there is not only a green WF behind the exported maize, but also a Nitrogen-related grey WF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]