Agriculture is the largest user of water in the United States, yet it is not well understood how that water is distributed amongst different crops, locations, years, or sources of water. In this study, we build upon the Irrigation Water Use (IWU) data set developed by Ruess et al. (2023) by partitioning produce, animal feed, and pulses into their constituent crops. We do this at the county spatial resolution for the Continental United States (CONUS) between 2008-2020 for surface water withdrawals (SWW), total groundwater withdrawals (GWW), and nonrenewable groundwater depletion (GWD). To do this, we scaled IWU estimates for produce, pulses, and animal feed using land surface area estimates from the USDA Cropscape Data Layer (CDL). For produce, Almonds used the most SWW, GWW, and GWD on average, followed by Grapes. For pulses, Beans used the most SWW, GWW, and GWD on average. For animal feed, Alfalfa hay used the most SWW, GWW, and GWD on average. Speltz saw the greatest percentage increase in IWU for each water source. Between 2008-2020, GWD rose by 71.3% for Almonds, 67.1% for Beans, and 29.6% for Alfalfa. This study presents a national-scale assessment of crop-specific irrigation for individual produce and animal feed crops by water source, county, and year. In total, we contribute nearly 6.3 million data points to the literature (3,108 counties; 13 years; 3 water sources; and 52 crops). This study and associated database can be used by researchers and decision-makers interested in the water use of specific produce and feed crops.
