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Worksheet Grade 5 Social Studies & Civics

The Water It Takes to Grow Our Food: A Grade 5 Worksheet

A grade 5 economics-and-geography worksheet where students use real water-footprint figures to compare the water cost of foods and the choices behind them.

Objectives

  1. Students will calculate the water used to grow given amounts of beef and wheat.
  2. Students will compare the water cost of two foods and explain the tradeoff of a food choice.

Vocabulary

Water footprint
All the water it takes to make the things we use and eat, counting water used far away. A hamburger's water footprint includes the water that grew the cattle's feed.

Also: irrigation, crop, benefit, cost

Teacher overview

Every food on a lunch tray took water to grow, but some foods take far more than others. The water used to grow a food is called its water footprint. This worksheet uses two widely cited figures, that a pound of beef takes roughly 1,800 gallons of water to produce and a pound of wheat takes roughly 220 gallons, to let students compare foods and think about the choices families and communities make. Most of the beef figure is rainwater used by the pasture and feed crops cattle eat, not irrigation or tap water. About 70 percent of the fresh water people use around the world goes to farming, so these choices add up.

The Water It Takes to Grow Our Food: A Grade 5 Worksheet — Grade 5 Social Studies & Civics
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Use these three facts for the problems below. The problems describe the fictional Okafor family and their school cafeteria, but the water figures are real estimates.

  • Growing one pound of beef takes about 1,800 gallons of water.
  • Growing one pound of wheat takes about 220 gallons of water.
  • About 70 percent of the fresh water people use around the world goes to farming.
  1. About how much water does it take to grow one pound of beef? About how much to grow one pound of wheat?
  2. The Okafor family buys 2 pounds of beef for dinner. About how much water did it take to grow that beef?
  3. The family also buys 5 pounds of wheat flour for baking bread. About how much water did it take to grow that wheat?
  4. Which takes more water to grow: 1 pound of beef or 10 pounds of wheat? Show the numbers you compared.
  5. How much more water does it take to grow 1 pound of beef than 1 pound of wheat?
  6. On Monday the cafeteria uses 3 pounds of beef and 4 pounds of wheat. About how much water did it take to grow all of that food together?
  7. Explain why choosing a wheat-based meal instead of a beef meal can be one way to use less water. Use numbers from this worksheet in your answer.
  8. Name one benefit and one cost of the Okafor family deciding to eat beef less often to save water.
  9. About what part of the fresh water people use around the world goes to farming?
  10. A fictional town wants to lower the water used to grow its food. Suggest one change the town could make, and explain one tradeoff of that change.

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key
  1. Answer: 1,800 gallons (beef) and 220 gallons (wheat). These are the two figures given at the top of the worksheet.
  2. Answer: 3,600 gallons. 1,800 gallons per pound times 2 pounds equals 3,600 gallons.
  3. Answer: 1,100 gallons. 220 gallons per pound times 5 pounds equals 1,100 gallons.
  4. Answer: 10 pounds of wheat. Beef takes 1,800 gallons, while 10 pounds of wheat takes 10 times 220, or 2,200 gallons, so the 10 pounds of wheat take more. One pound of beef still takes far more water than one pound of wheat.
  5. Answer: 1,580 gallons. 1,800 gallons minus 220 gallons equals 1,580 gallons more for the beef.
  6. Answer: 6,280 gallons. Beef: 1,800 times 3 equals 5,400 gallons. Wheat: 220 times 4 equals 880 gallons. Together, 5,400 plus 880 equals 6,280 gallons.
  7. Answer: A wheat meal uses less water to grow. One pound of wheat takes about 220 gallons, while one pound of beef takes about 1,800 gallons, so a wheat-based meal has a much smaller water footprint.
  8. Answer: Sample response. Benefit: the family uses less water and may lower the water needed to grow their food. Cost: they give up some meals they enjoy, and they may need to find other filling foods.
  9. Answer: About 70 percent. The worksheet states that roughly 70 percent of the fresh water people use around the world goes to farming.
  10. Answer: Sample response. The town could grow more crops that need less water, such as wheat instead of thirsty crops. Tradeoff: farmers may earn less or need to learn new methods, even though the change saves water.

Differentiation

Support

Provide a filled-in example before item 2, showing 1,800 times 1 equals 1,800 gallons, so students see the pattern. Allow a calculator for the multiplication, and let students answer items 7, 8, and 10 with a single sentence.

Extension

Ask students to work out, using only the two figures on this worksheet, how much water it would take to grow the beef and wheat for a class party of 25 students, and to write a short recommendation about which food to serve to keep the water footprint low.

ELL supports

Give a small picture glossary for "water footprint," "beef," and "wheat," with an image next to each. Provide sentence frames for items 7 and 8: "A wheat meal uses ___ water because ___," and "One benefit is ___. One cost is ___."