Operations (AFOs) are places where animals are kept and raised in confined situations. AFOs that meet the regulatory definition of a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) may be regulated under EPA's National Point Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting program. This program helps ensure that animal waste and wastewater are properly managed and do not enter water bodies from spills or breaks of waste storage structures and the non-agricultural application of manure to crop land.
All Region 8 states - Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming - have been authorized to implement the NPDES program and issue permits to these CAFOs. North Dakota Contact:
Gary D. Bracht
gbracht@ state.nd.us
North Dakota Department of Health
Water Quality Division
1200 Missouri Ave
P.O. Box 5520
Bismarck, ND 58506-5520
(701) 328-5210
Food and Water Watch "Factory farms create serious human health and environmental risks in the communities where they locate," said Bob Lawrence, Johns Hopkins University professor and director of the Center for a Livable Future. "The millions of gallons of manure with the toxic chemicals they emit harm human health and cause hazardous air and water pollution.”
Are Factory Dairy Farms Good Business? Get the Rest of the Story (Highlights of January 6 workshop in Sioux Falls) "A newly released Ohio study shows that over a thirty year period of time, the local economic impact of the large dairies is only about $6,000 a year. And that study didn't subtract for declining property values, health care costs and bilingual tutors for the children of immigrant workers. Almost all studies show the property values of neighbors decline dramatically. Liquid manure lagoons leak. There are better options than this outmoded technology. If the risks to our water supplies are truly as harmless as they say, then it shouldn't be prohibitively expensive for feedlots to have adequate insurance to cover potential environmental accidents. Taxpayers should not have to assume the risks. Issues of Quality of Life should be put to the will of the voters. It is not just a small group of people who oppose these CAFOS. Most of the opposition to large feedlots comes from other farmers who don't want their rural farm neighborhoods ruined."
Leaving home
"Dr. Leland Wolf stands in his empty garage with
his 10-year-old son, Chris. The family practitioner tells a
gathering of about 60 people why he left the rural community
where six generations before him farmed since 1855. The group is
on a “manure tour” of Lenawee and Hillsdale counties that the
Sierra Club and Concerned Citizens organized last month. They
are traveling through the area on four buses to view the
mega-farms and hear how they have changed the landscape. About
15 folks have come from as far as northern Ohio, where large
dairy farms are also springing up; they want to know what to
expect in their rural communities. If Wolf’s story is any
indication, they may be in for some tough times.
Like his father and grandfather, Wolf intended to spend his
final days in Hillsdale County. When he learned that a 3,200-cow
dairy farm — the largest yet in the area — was going up behind
his brick, ranch home he packed up his wife and four kids and
moved about 40 minutes away last winter."
Conservation spending should produce positive conservation
results – not environmental hazards.
"One of the programs factory farms have been using to build and
expand in the name of “conservation” is the Environmental
Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). EQIP was developed to provide
cost-share grants for implementing conservation practices, and
has been used by many family farmers to do solid environmental
improvements. But since 2002, new and expanding factory farms
have been able to receive up to $450,000 in taxpayer dollars
through EQIP to construct manure lagoons. Instead of addressing
environmental problems, these dollars are being used to create
pollution hazards."
Mega-Dairy Cowed by Legal Threat
by Pat Gallagher
Sierra Club Senior Attorney
"Dairies don't automatically come to mind as a threat to the
environment. We think of rolling green hills dotted with timid
black and white cows, quietly chewing their cud, marching slowly
to the barn at milking time. But that's the past - today, these
new mega-dairy operations cram thousands of cows into penned
lots, and the animals and their waste cause concentrated,
intractable water and air-pollution problems."
Big Farms, Big Problems?
Manure From Large-scale Dairies Creates Environmental Issues
"Many
dozens of citizens groups nationwide are fighting mega-farm
development, and at least 10 Ohio citizens groups have formed in
the past few years to actively oppose mega-dairy construction
and expansion. The Ohio groups charge that the state agriculture
department allows the farms to operate with inadequate
regulation. Lawsuits have been filed against the department by
the Citizens of Putnam County for Clean Air and Water Inc. and
Citizens Against Mega Dairies, a coalition of residents of
Greene, Madison, Fayette and Clark counties. Manure spread on
fields doesn't necessarily stay put, and manure lagoons aren't
necessarily secure. Soupy manure sometimes overflows from
storage lagoons. And once spread on fields, it sometimes seeps
into field drainage tiles or is moved by rain or melting snow
until it reaches waterways that inexorably lead to the lakes and
rivers that serve as water sources for cities and towns. Fish
kills along the way occasionally serve to document the manure's
movement through the water system. Ohio State University
zoologist David Culver poses the very real possibility that
manure from northwest Ohio farms is contributing to Lake Erie's
6,300-square-mile "dead zone," an oxygen-depleted area where
fish cannot live."
MEGA-Dairy Plays Foul (Wright Township, Michigan)
Residents complain of strong odors
from the facility on Tamarack Road at U.S. 127, in addition to
runoff, spills and discharges they say are fouling air and
water. The discomfort of nearby residents is escalating into
claims of diminished lifestyle and alleged psychological and
health problems.
“You have headaches, sinus problems,
constant frustration and anger, disgust with the blackened
water,” said John Klein, resident of Lime Lake.
“And the odor — your entire lifestyle revolves around the odor,
whether you will have to close the windows, or guests will leave
your home because they can’t stand the smell,” said Klein.
“Remember, what you are smelling is really emissions of hydrogen
sulfide, methane and ammonia.”
Factory Farms:
Why You Should Oppose This Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation
(CAFO) - The Questions Rural Communities Should Ask About CAFOs
By John Ikerd, Professor Emeritus, University of Missouri
"CAFOs destroy the social fabric of rural communities.
The right to private property has never included the right to
use property in a way that devalues the properties of one's
neighbors or diminishes the overall quality of life in the
community. CAFOs clearly have the capability of doing both. The
stink of a large CAFO not only creates a nuisance for miles
around, but also presents significant risks to human health.
Many large CAFOs generate more biological waste than do small
cities. Rights to farm were never intended to include factory
farms."
BREAKING NEWS: Manure spill in Maryland contaminates towns water
supply and kills 2,500 trout.
"WALKERSVILLE Jan 30, 2008 -- For town residents who
remember the 1999 sewage spill that forced them to use a
makeshift water supply for five months, this could be worse.
Test results this week from untreated water show the levels of
bacteria and E. coli are greater than in 1999, said Mike
Marschner, director of the county's Division of Utilities and
Solid Waste Management. The contamination is the result of a
manure lagoon pipe that burst last week, said town commissioner
Chad Weddle. The burst actually created two spills, one on Jan.
22 and a second Friday night into Saturday morning."
Got Pollution?
The Environmental Effects of Industrial Dairy Farming
"Dairy cows produce more than milk. They make manure, too.
Each of the 9.1 million dairy cows in the United States excretes
approximately 120 pounds, or 14.475 gallons, of manure per day.
All this manure and other waste that comes from milk production
spells environmental trouble for rural communities with heavy
concentrations of dairy cows. Traditional small dairy farms
effectively manage manure by applying it to their fields as a
crop fertilizer. Unfortunately, U.S. farm policy and economics
are causing the demise of those small, diversified farms and the
rise of industrial factory dairies that cram together thousands
of cows who make millions of gallons of manure. One 2,500-cow
dairy produces as much waste as a city with 400,000 residents.
Factory dairy operators often attempt to deal with the high
volume of manure, as well as waste from the milking operation,
by using water to flush it out of buildings and into
multimillion-gallon lagoons. Then, the mixture is sprayed or
spread onto fields to fertilize them. But unlike the relatively
small amount of cow manure coming from traditional farms, these
loads of industrial dairy waste are too much for the land to
absorb and filter. Instead, the manure pollutes the air, water,
and soil. It also causes human health problems."
Mega-farms threaten nearby waters
By product of operations: Reeking pools of manure
By Brad Heath / The Detroit News
"Hundreds of these new farms have emerged around the Great
Lakes over the past decade, corralling thousands of animals --
and all of their waste. While all farms have some impact on the
environment, the sheer size of these new operations has made
them a prime worry for environmental regulators and unhappy
neighbors, who have documented hundreds of cases in which manure
and other waste tainted nearby waterways that flow into the
Lakes. The biggest farms can generate as much sewage as a small
city. Most of it ends up in outdoor lagoons, huge reeking pools
of manure and wastewater that fester under the summer sun."
How to Poison a River
New York Times
Published: August 19, 2005
"The Marks Farm near Lowville, N.Y., has a herd of some
3,000 dairy cows. Their milk is trucked away regularly, but
their liquefied manure is stored in a reservoir with earthen
walls. How much manure? Before Aug. 11, the reservoir at the
Marks Farm contained some three million gallons. Sometime in the
next day, one of the walls blew out and released most of that
waste into the Black River, a popular fishing stream and a water
source for towns downstream. In case you have trouble
visualizing it, three million gallons of liquid manure is
roughly equivalent to the water in six Olympic-size swimming
pools.
The result has been a major fish kill and the loss - at least
temporarily - of all recreation on the river. The mess has been
gradually diluted and will finally make its way into Lake
Ontario, where it will do the fish there no good.
Mega-dairies, like huge hog confinement operations, are all too
often forced upon local communities against their will. Some New
York towns have tried to restrict the expansion of industrial
farms nearby. But whenever that happens, the State Department of
Agriculture and Markets has sued, or threatened to sue, under
the state's Right to Farm Law. That law made sense when farms
were smaller and incapable of causing serious air pollution or a
manure spill of massive proportions. Farmers still need to be
protected against frivolous lawsuits, but the state needs to get
out of the business of forcing industrial farms on communities
that don't want them. And when farms operate at the scale of
Marks Farm, they need to meet far stricter environmental
standards than currently prevail. This disaster should never
have had a chance to happen."
Mega-farm operation will sprout up near Rosendale
fdlreporter.com: Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin
"The proposed $60 million dairy operation, to be known as
Rosendale Dairy, would be the largest mega-farm in the state.
The land is zoned A1 agricultural and carries no restrictions as
far as the quantity of animals a livestock operation can
maintain.
Despite opposition from a large group of residents, Town of
Rosendale Chairman Tracy Swayze said his hands are tied by state
statutes that protect mega-farms. Claims from community members
that they were not informed of plans for the large operation
until the last minute are unfounded, he said.
"Our town has been apathetic," Swayze said. "People don't come
to town meetings, and I hope after this, people start getting
involved with what is happening at a local level."
Joann and Bill Kotlowski have lived in the same house for 30
years and are mulling over what to do now that the property
across the road will house thousands of cows. Like their
neighbors, they have grave concerns about water pollution and
depletion, air quality, property values, even illegal aliens."
IDEM officials hear dairy debate (Example of public hearing)
By BILL RICHMOND - Winchester News Gazette
"Supporters and opponents of a proposed 1,650-cow dairy farm
squared off Wednesday evening at a public hearing for the
Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). The
hearing is part of the IDEM permitting process required before
the Tony Goltstein/UnionGo Dairy farm can be established
locally. Vreba-Hoff Dairy Development is a Michigan-based group
that helps Dutch and other European dairy producers relocate to
Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. Four Vreba-Hoff affiliated dairies-
DeGroot, Walnut Grove, Milco and Rooyakkers- were cited by IDEM
over the past three years for environmental violations. The
violations included construction that did not meet state
requirements and multiple manure spills that reached Indiana
waters. Bud Strum also expressed concern about past Vreba-Hoff
violations.
"Why give a permit to this company, given its past violations,"
Sturm asked.
Dr. Alison Syme said such operations could create health
problems in the local population.
"Emerging evidence indicates that antibiotics given to animal
are transmitted to humans through the water supply," Dr. Syme
said. "Many of these antibiotics are identical or similar to
antibiotics used to treat humans. It's a crisis."
CAFO-polluted streams
-- all photos taken near Hudson, Michigan 2000-2003
"Pollutants in liquid manure from CAFOs can include ammonia,
nitrates, phosphorus, causing algal blooms, fish kills;
antibiotics, hormones, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, fecal
coliform and E. coli bacteria, which can contaminate drinking
water supplies and pose serious risk to human health. Water
monitoring of streams near CAFOs shows frequent spikes in E.
coli bacteria, as high as 297,000/100 ml (297 times the level
Michigan allows for partial body contact). The 10 CAFOs in our
area have illegally discharged manure, silage leachate (chopped
feed, high in moisture, acidic, lowers Dissolved Oxygen in
streams), milk and milkhouse wastes. These pollutants have
contaminated stretches of three watersheds -- the
Bean/Tiffin/Maumee watershed, which supplies drinking water for
Archbold, OH, and serves as a recharge area for groundwater
wells in Hudson and Morenci, MI, Bryan, OH, and other communties;
the River Raisin watershed, which supplies drinking water for
Adrian, Blissfield, and other Michigan communities; and the St.
Joseph River watershed."
Final Report, ECCSCM Water Monitoring Project, 2001-2003 by
Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan
"The purpose of the Project was to determine the impact to water
quality of newly-constructed Confined Animal Feeding Operations
(CAFOs), including 10 dairies, with 700-3,400 cows confined at
each production facility. Most sites sampled were either
adjacent to CAFO facilities or immediately downstream from
manure-application fields. The ECCSCM monitoring project found
that serious contamination of waterways occurred during spring
thaws of both 2002 and 2003, during liquid manure applications
following crop removal, and especially when tile lines were
running. However, samples violating water quality standards and
bacteria levels TNTC were found during every month of the year,
including winter, when underground tiles sometimes still flowed,
or liquid manure melted off the surface of fields and entered
catch-basins to drains and streams. While each discharge event
is a critical pollution problem, chronic pollution is also a
serious problem and needs further study. Manure (sometimes
called nutrient) pollution increases algal growth and lowers
Dissolved Oxygen. This eutrophication process can be difficult
to reverse. With very low DO levels, below 3 mg/L, many aquatic
species are put at risk and fish die. Several streams in the
ECCSCM project tested at catastrophically low DO levels.
Throughout the summer of 2003, a tributary of Durfee Creek in
Medina Township did not once register above 1 mg/L – this is a
dead-zone for aquatic life."
Confirmed Violations/Discharges from CAFOs
and Liquid-System Livestock Operations
to Bean/Tiffin Watershed and River Raisin Watershed
"All of the Hudson-area CAFOs have violated Michigan’s Natural
Resources & Environmental Protection Act. Most CAFOs have
multiple violations, including Vreba-Hoff facilities, with
dozens of violations. 274 violations, 2000-2007 - this is a
conservative list, noting only violations in DEQ documents and
not counting ongoing violations, some continuing for many days
or even weeks."
See complete list
Rewarding Poor Planning?
"Opponents of the subsidies [to factory farms] say they have
little quarrel with the potential benefits of methane digesters.
But they insist that taxpayers, rightly concerned about water
and air quality, should not be forced to subsidize the poor
planning of factory farmers who expanded their herds
significantly without simultaneously expanding environmental
protections. They fear that Michigan will use public money to
enhance the profits of these highly polluting industrial
operations, something they assert the federal government did
last September when it made a $500,000 grant to Vreba-Hoff Dairy
Farms to build a methane digester. According to state records,
Vreba-Hoff, which operates two dairy CAFOs in Hillsdale and
Lenawee Counties, just south of Jackson, is one of the farming
community’s most frequent violators of pollution-protection
laws."
Big farm, big feud: Giant dairy's manure angers neighbors By LEE
BERGQUIST - Posted: Dec. 3, 2005 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The controversy over Maple Leaf Dairy is perhaps the most
divisive battle today between a Wisconsin farmer and his
neighbors, and it underscores the sometimes uneasy relations in
farm country as urbanites keep moving in while dairy farms keep
growing. Opponents say the farm is responsible for sickening
odors and damage to the local watershed, which feeds into nearby
Lake Michigan. Manure - with all of its odor and potential to
pollute - is frequently a source of tension in rural Wisconsin.
It was responsible for 52 pollution cases between June 1, 2004,
and July 1 of this year, according to the Department of Natural
Resources. This included 17 fish kills and the contamination of
20 private water supplies. At some of the wells, "liquid manure
was coming right out of the tap," said Gordon Stevenson, chief
of the runoff management section of the DNR and manure regulator
for 21 years.
CAFOs Hearing on Capitol Hill
On September 6th, 2007 the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment
and Public Works (EPW) held a hearing entitled, "An Examination
of the Potential Human Health, Water Quality, and Other Impacts
of the Confined Animal Feeding Operation Industry."
In her opening statement, EPW Chair Barbara Boxer stated that
the purpose of the hearing was to present a “clear picture of
the significant environmental and health issues that stem from
these facilities [Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations CAFOs].”
Specifically the hearing focused on current legislative
proposals in Congress which would alter the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)
by excluding “manure” from its definition of hazardous
substances. The proposals also would eliminate provisions that
ensure CAFOs polluters pay to cleanup up their mess.
During the hearings, Drew Edmonson, the Oklahoma Attorney
General, gave testimony in opposition to the exemptions to
CERCLA. Edmonson argued that amending CERCLA to exclude manure
would greatly limit the ability of his state and others to
respond to environmental problems caused by the release of
manure from CAFOs. He went on to site two specific examples of
environmental degradation in his own state that resulted from
the release of these hazardous substances; Oklahoma’s Illinois
River Watershed and Lake Tenkiller. Both of these important
natural resources have had their water quality seriously
impaired. The elevated levels of phosphorus disrupt the
ecosystem by causing algae blooms and pathogenic bacteria that
threaten human health.
Purdue launches CAFO Web site
Published: Aug. 28, 2007 at 4:16 PM
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Aug. 28 (UPI) -- "Purdue University
has launched a Web site featuring scientific information about
concentrated animal feeding operations.
"We wanted to develop a source of information that is based on
science, not sentiment," said Alan Grant, head of the
university's department of animal sciences.
A confined animal feeding operation, or CAFO, is an agricultural
business where animals are raised in a confined environment and
not allowed to roam or graze.
The Web site is designed to aid zoning boards, planning
commissions, agricultural Extension educators, as well as
citizens and farmers by covering environmental issues, public
health concerns and general information.
"Let's say a zoning board has to make a decision about allowing
a producer to build a CAFO within 5 miles of an elementary
school," Paul Ebner, Purdue Extension expert said, noting much
of the information given the board might be biased and based on
strong emotions.
"Now, the zoning board can visit the CAFO Web site and read
about the environmental and public health issues of animal
agriculture that could potentially affect children attending the
school and sort myth from fact," he said.
Because the consequences of manure
mismanagement can be severe and affect large groups of people,
CAFO operators should adopt best management practices (BMPs)
that further reduce risks such as immediately incorporating
manure into the soil, adopting various soil conservation
practices, and
diligently managing and maintaining storage sites."
America's Animal Factories
How States Fail to Prevent Pollution from Livestock Waste -
Chapter 18 NORTH DAKOTA
Large-scale corporate animal factories are moving into the
state, setting up ownership arrangements that escape the state's
prohibitions against corporate farming.
Today, most of the largest livestock operations in North Dakota
are cattle feedlots. The most controversial operation in North
Dakota, however, involves an industrial pig farm close to urban
Grand Forks. Cattle farming, a familiar part of the North Dakota
landscape, tends to be located in more rural parts of the state
and is widely accepted by state residents.
In recent years, public opposition has focused on a kind of
farming that is relatively new to the state -- giant pig
feedlots owned by out-of-state corporations. ... Just four
months after receiving its first shipment of hogs in mid-January
1998, and before EnviroPork had reached its full capacity,
neighbors complained of odors to the state Health Department,
prompting tests for compliance with the state's odor standards.
On May 12, 1998, the state recorded readings of 15 and 31 "odor
concentration units," exceeding the state's standard by over 15
times.
Local Control:
North Dakota counties and townships have the authority to
regulate CAFOs, but few do."
[Rather outdated, but interesting]
Manure BMP [Best Management Practice] Adoption among North
Dakota Animal Feed Operations by Eric Schuck and Scott Birchall
"ABSTRACT: Regulations governing animal waste storage are
primarily a state-level issue. Protecting water resources from
animal waste contamination will depend upon how effective
state-level animal waste regulations are in encourageing
livestock producers to handle waste appropriately. Survery
results from North Dakota indicate beef cattle feeding
operations do not always comply with state regulations requiring
adoption of manure storage BMP's. This is most likely due to
incomplete inspection schedules by the regulatory agency.
Statistical results suggest herd size plays a much larger role
than regulation in promoting adoption of manure storage BMP's
Contact: Erick Schuck Department of Agricultural and Resource
Economics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523
The authors are: assistant professor, Colorado State University,
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Fort Collins
CO 80523 and former livestock waste management specialist,
Carrington Research Extension Station, North Dakota State
University, Carrington, ND 58421."
Perry County Conservation District
Perry County, Pennsylvania Conservation District Official
Website
Watersheds: Best Management Practices
"Best Management Practices (BMPs) are effective, practical,
structural or nonstructural methods which prevent or reduce the
movement of sediment, nutrients, pesticides and other pollutants
from the land to surface or ground water, or which otherwise
protect water quality from potential adverse effects of land use
activities. These practices are developed to achieve a balance
between water quality protection and necessary development
within natural and economic limitations. Understanding BMPs and
their flexibility in application is of vital importance in
selecting BMPS which offer site specific control of potential
non point source pollution."
Livestock Waste Management
Persons Responsible: Scott Birchall, Karl Hoppe, JW Schroeder,
Tom Socha, Jim Lindley, Bruce Seelig, Dave Franzen, Randy Gaebe,
Terry Carlson (USDA-NRCS), Gary Haberstroh (NDDoH), Wes
Wiedenmeyer (USDA-NRCS)
"Situation: Animal feeding operations across all industries are
expected to comply with the requirements of the Clean Waters Act
and the Clean Air Act. While larger operations (>200 AU's)
require an "approval to operate" from the Department of Health,
even smaller operations should adopt waste management practices
to minimize impact on water and air quality. Existing animal
feeding operations have the potential to reduce water pollution
through structural or management changes. Changes in the
livestock industry to larger and more intensive operations
increase the potential for surface and ground water pollution
unless facilities are well constructed and managed."
LETTER OPINION 2005-L-27 from Wayne Stenehjem, Attorney General,
North Dakota
To Lonny W. Olson, Ramsay County State's Attorney
October 4, 2005
"According to your request, certain individuals read N.D.C.C. §
23-25-11(9) to prohibit counties from regulating AFOs. This
position contradicts the plain language of the statute. Section
23-25-11(9) does not prohibit counties from regulating AFOs. It
states that counties lack such authority “except as permitted
under section[ ] 11-33-02.”
(Section 58-03-11 deals with the authority of townships.) In
other words, a county’s regulatory authority over an AFO is
defined by section 11-33-02. Section 11-33-02(2) deals
specifically with AFOs. Counties may “regulate the nature and
scope of concentrated feeding operations permissible in the
county . . . .” N.D.C.C. § 11-33-02(2). Additionally, “[a]
regulation addressing the development of a concentrated feeding
operation in the county may set reasonable standards, based on
the size of the operation, to govern its locations.” N.D.C.C. §
11-33-02(3)."
Administration and Enforcement
"The federal government has assigned enforcement
responsibilities over CAFOs to states, but some of the available
evidence suggests that it has not provided the oversight
necessary to ensure that the states carry out the laws. The EPA
reported that only about twenty percent of the nation’s CAFOs
had secured permits in 1997. With inadequate resources and
limited numbers of personnel, many states are unable to meet
their enforcement responsibilities. In a few cases, political
and economic pressures have also meant that enforcement is lax.
Given these conditions, AFOs may be able to violate regulatory
provisions without incurring fines or other sanctions.
The enactment of additional CAFO regulations will increase
states’ regulatory burdens. In the absence of additional
resources, and because states have yet to fully implement
previous regulations, the General Accounting Office exhorted
greater oversight of state programs. Problems are anticipated in
carrying out the increased responsibilities without additional
staffing."
Understanding Livestock Odors
North Carolina Cooperative Extension
Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Publication AG-589
How much odor should a community or individual have to tolerate?
This question must be answered before performance standards or
any good odor control program can be developed and enforced.
People would probably agree that if one person smells a facility
part of one day out of the year, that facility should not be
declared a nuisance. However, several hundred people smelling
the facility for a majority of the year would be
considered a nuisance. The reality for most animal facilities
presumably lies somewhere between these extremes.
Answers to many other questions are also needed. How can gas and
dust emissions from poultry and livestock operations be
predicted? How do these gases and dust move and disperse in the
atmosphere? What is the connection between gases and odors, or
dust and odors? How are odors measured? How are odors
controlled? How do odors affect human health? These and other
questions are being addressed, but answers are difficult to
obtain. Odors are evidently creating problems for the livestock
industry and for some individuals and communities near livestock
facilities
ties. Poultry and livestock producers need to control odors.
Communities need
policies that manage odor problems while preserving the economic
integrity of their animal industry.
