Healthy communities include healthy businesses. A proposed new or expanded animal feeding operation can challenge the harmony of a local community. One commonly expressed concern regards the health impacts of the airborne emissions. Resources are available to help community members dealing with difficult decisions related to animal feeding operations. This 12 minute video explains some common air issues related to livestock and poultry production and science-based resources available to help policy makers and community members better understand odor, health and zoning issues as they develop policy.
Policy and Air Quality Resources
Setback estimation tools are available to help local policy makers and feeding operation owners assess the potential odor impact of a new or expanding operation on nearby neighbors and public areas. After odors, the most common livestock and poultry air emissions to receive scrutiny from regulators are ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. Both of these gases are important in a piece of federal legislation known as the Environmental Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA).
Some of the management practices available to farmers mentioned in this video include:
More Videos in This Series
- Health Impacts of Air Emissions from Animal Feeding Operations
- Managing Odors and Neighbor Relations and Estimating Setbacks
- Manure Covers and Biofilters for Managing Odors and Air Emissions
Additional educational materials are available at Air Quality in Animal Agriculture
Acknowledgements
For more information about this video or these resources, contact Dr. Kevin Janni, University of Minnesota kjanni@umn.edu
These materials were based upon work supported by the by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture under Agreement No. 2010-85112-20520.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this video are those of the speaker and do not reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.