What are the emissions from combine harvesting per acre?

Multiply diesel per acre by 2.68 kg CO2 per litre. Owners report it in Scope 1. Farmers who hire a harvester count it in Scope 3, from the hire invoice. Diesel per acre varies with crop, yield and field size, so measure it from fill-ups over a season.

How to measure

1. Fill the tank fully before and after a set of fields.
2. Record acres harvested in between.
3. Divide litres by acres.

Where it fits

For a crop footprint, harvesting is one item alongside fertiliser, irrigation and residue burning, which is often larger.

Worked example (illustrative)

• Diesel: 6 L per acre (illustrative)
• 6 x 2.68 = 16.1 kg CO2 per acre
• 100 acres: about 1.6 t CO2

Illustrative figure only. Measure your own litres per acre.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills and applies IPCC 2006 factors and the CEA grid factor (0.710 kg CO2 per kWh), so you can compare Scope 1 and 2 before and after a change from the documents themselves.

• Tractor diesel per acre
• Wheat farming per tonne
• Paddy straw burning

Sources: 2006 IPCC Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy, GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard

Last reviewed 2026-10-22.