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Purpose
The National Air Quality Site Assessment Tool (NAQSAT) was developed as a first-of-its-kind tool to help producers and their advisors assess the impact of management on air emissions from livestock and poultry operations and identify areas for potential improvement related to those air emissions.
What did we do?
In 2007, several land-grant universities, with leadership from Michigan State University, began developing NAQSAT under a USDA-NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG). The initial tool included beef, dairy, swine, and poultry operations. A subsequent CIG project, with leadership from Colorado State University, made several enhancements to the tool, including adding horses to the species list. In 2015, USDA-NRCS officially adopted NAQSAT as an approved tool for evaluating air quality resource concerns at livestock and poultry operations. USDA-NRCS also contracted with Florida A&M University in 2015 to provide several regional training workshops on NAQSAT to NRCS employees. Six training workshops have been completed to date (Raleigh, NC; Modesto, CA; Elizabethtown, PA; Lincoln, NE; Richmond, VA; and Yakima, WA) with assistance from multiple NAQSAT development partners. Additionally, USDA-NRCS revised its comprehensive nutrient management plan (CNMP) policy in October 2015 to make the evaluation of air quality resource concerns mandatory as part of CNMP development.
What have we learned?
NAQSAT has proven to be a useful tool for bench-marking the air emissions impacts of current management on confinement-based livestock and poultry operations. In the training sessions, students have been able to complete NAQSAT runs on-site with the producer or producer representative via tablet or smartphone technologies. Further classroom discussion has helped to better understand the questions and answers and how the NAQSAT results can feed into the USDA-NRCS conservation planning process. Several needed enhancements and upgrades to the tool have been identified in order to more closely align the output of the tool to USDA-NRCS conservation planning needs. NAQSAT has also proven to be useful for evaluating the air quality resource concern status of an operation in relation to the CNMP development process.
Future Plans
It is anticipated that the identified needed enhancements and upgrades will be completed as funding for further NAQSAT development becomes available. Additionally, as use of NAQSAT by USDA-NRCS and our conservation planning and CNMP development partners expands, additional training and experience-building opportunities will be needed. The NAQSAT development team has great geographic coverage to assist in these additional opportunities.
Corresponding author, title, and affiliation
Greg Zwicke, Air Quality Engineer – Air Quality and Atmospheric Change Team, USDA-NRCS
Corresponding author email
Other authors
Greg Johnson, Air Quality and Atmospheric Change Team Leader, USDA-NRCS; Jeff Porter, Animal Nutrient and Manure Management Team Leader, USDA-NRCS; Sandy Means, Agricultural Engineer – Animal Nutrient and Manure Management Team, USDA-NRCS
Additional information
naqsat.tamu.edu
https://lpelc.org/naqsat-for-swine-and-poultry
https://lpelc.org/naqsat-for-beef-and-dairy/
Acknowledgements
C.E. Meadows Endowment, Michigan State University
Colorado Livestock Association
Colorado State University
Florida A&M University
Iowa Turkey Federation
Iowa Pork Producers
Iowa Pork Industry Center
Iowa State University
Iowa State University Experiment Station
Kansas State University
Michigan Milk Producers Association
Michigan Pork Producers Association
Michigan State University
Michigan State University Extension
National Pork Board
Nebraska Environmental Trust
Oregon State University
Penn State University
Purdue University
Texas A&M University
University of California, Davis
University of Georgia
University of Georgia Department of Poultry Science
University of Idaho
University of Maryland
University of Maryland Department of Animal and Avian Sciences
University of Minnesota
University of Missouri
University of Nebraska
USDA-ARS
Virginia Tech University
Washington State University
Western United Dairymen
Whatcom County (WA) Conservation District
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