Fig. 2: County-level map of greenhouse gas emissions from irrigation pumping.

The distribution of (a) total greenhouse gas emissions (tonnes CO2e) from energy use for on-farm irrigation pumping in 2018 in the United States, and several key drivers of emissions, including: b total water demand for crop irrigation (km3 per year), c the percentage of total emissions attributable to groundwater use rather than surface water use, and d the percentage of emissions attributable to natural gas, diesel, gasoline, or propane pumps rather than electrical pumps. a, b The color scale is square root transformed for improved visibility. a–c Counties that have no emissions are in white.