Comparative Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensities from Irrigated and Dryland Agricultural Activities in Canada

Abstract

Irrigation development may present trade-offs between economic and environmental quality. To assess this, a comparative analysis is undertaken of contributions of irrigation versus dryland production to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in two Canadian regions for the year 2000. This regional analysis was undertaken using three criteria—area, physical production, and economic value of production. Results indicate that irrigated agricultural crop production is responsible for 1.65 Mt of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2E) GHG emissions in Canada. This is about six percent of the Canadian total GHG emissions from crop production. On a per hectare basis, irrigated crop production emits almost 6.5 times the GHGs of dryland crop production in western Canada, and four times the GHGs in eastern Canada. When factoring in physical productivity, western Canadian irrigated crop production, relative to dryland production, emitted an almost equal amount of GHGs. However, when the value of all crops and livestock enterprises are considered, irrigated production generates smaller GHG emissions than dryland farms in both western (2.15 kg per dollar of production for irrigation and 3.23 kg for dryland) and eastern (1.59 kg per dollar of production for irrigation versus 2.65 kg for dryland) Canada. Under the current crop mix and technology, Canadian irrigation can be considered both economically and environmentally efficient, if value of production is taken into account.