How Industrial Agriculture Affects Our Air

Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and industrial crop production can affect air quality on farms and in surrounding communities by releasing ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, pesticides and other airborne agriculture pollution. CAFOs also contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, adding to the problem of climate change. Resulting agriculture pollution like air emissions and odors can harm the health of people working on a farm and in the surrounding communities, as well as the farm animals themselves.

Air and Agriculture Pollution: The Problem

Confining a large number of animals in close quarters concentrates the air emissions generated by farm animals. Cattle emit methane through belching and farting and from their waste (a mid-sized dairy farm with 200 cows produces approximately 24,000 pounds of manure every day, while poultry farms can release high levels of ammonia from the fermentation of feces in the litter. ⁷

Ammonia

Ammonia is a colorless gas that is soluble in water. It is a nitrogen-containing compound that is produced in animal metabolism and excreted through animal waste. The EPA estimates that nearly three quarters of the country’s ammonia pollution comes from livestock facilities. Ammonia is an irritant and at high doses can be toxic. ⁹

Particulates and Aerosols

The combination of ammonia from animal waste and fertilizer application with pollutants from combustion can create aerosols, which are a collection of potentially harmful particulate matter suspended in the air that can damage human health. ²¹ Overall, farming practices lack many air quality regulations.

A ruling on April 26, 2018, found that a subsidiary of Smithfield, called Murphy Brown, would have to pay $50 million in damages to neighboring families who suffered from the odor, flies, buzzards and other issues caused by a neighboring hog operation. This was the first of 26 nuisance cases local residents have brought against the company. While the damages have since been reduced to $225,000 per person (due to a recently passed and interestingly-timed North Carolina “anti-nuisance” law that caps such penalties paid by agricultural entities), it remains an important precedent and sends a powerful message to these industry giants. Similar suits are being filed in other places including Northeast Iowa, where residents are suing the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Air pollution from industrial farming has the following implications for community health and well-being:

Asthma and Lung Ailments

Some studies indicate that being in the proximity of factory farms may contribute to the instance or exacerbation of asthma cases. ³¹