Skip to content
English
Go to regrow.ag
  • There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

Residue management data sources

Residue management is an emissions category of cradle-to-farmgate emission factors. The share of crop residue that is left on the field, removed, or burned after harvest is an input to both DNDC for modeled outcomes as well as calculations for residue-based emissions.

Data sources

Regrow's residue management inputs use a combination of Monitor (when available), global datasets, published references, and country-specific research. When field-level Monitor residue data is not available, default data are created at the crop × country level so they can be used consistently in emissions calculations when primary data is not available.

Primary data source

Monitor residue percentages

In regions where Monitor is available, residue percentages can be used as a proxy for the share of residue left on the field vs removed . This provides field-specific inputs rather than broad defaults where coverage exists. Current Monitor coverage includes parts of CONUS & Canada, Europe, and Australia, with availability varying by crop, geography, and year. 

See Where is Monitor available? for current coverage details.

Secondary data source

In regions where Monitor is not available, default data is used from best available data sources, across peer-reviewed studies, government organizations, etc.

Cereal crops

For cereal crops, Regrow uses the Smerald et al. Global Residue Management Dataset, a gridded dataset summarized across 2015–2021 and converted into country-level values using global administrative boundaries. This source is used for crops such as barley, maize/corn, rice, wheat, millet, sorghum, and related cereals.

Other crops

For non-cereal crops, Regrow uses published and public sources, including:

  • IPCC 2006 Guidelines: A methodological reference that provides default equations, emission factors, and inventory guidance for estimating emissions from agricultural residue burning, with no native spatial resolution because it is guidance rather than a gridded dataset, and it is generally applied at national inventory or crop-system level.

  • FAO FAOSTAT crop production and burning emissions data: A global statistical dataset that provides country-level, annual crop production and crop-related emissions/activity data at a country × year level.

  • Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED): A satellite-informed fire emissions dataset that estimates burned area and emissions as gridded monthly data, with a typical spatial resolution of 0.25° × 0.25° globally

  • Country-specific studies, including Jain et al. (2014) for India

These sources were used to set defaults for crops such as cotton, canola, rapeseed, dry bean, potato, peanut, sugar beet, and sunflower.

Sugarcane

Sugarcane is handled separately because residue burning practices vary by country and are changing over time. Where country-specific values were available, Regrow used them; otherwise, a global default was applied.

Assumptions and limitations

The default data are used where primary data (from Monitor) is unavailable, and as the primary source of residue burning activity.

Data quality and granularity varies by crop and region: some values are based on peer-reviewed sources, while others rely on broader agricultural inference.