Managing Agricultural Emissions to the Atmosphere: State of the Science, Fate and Mitigation, and Identifying Research Gaps

Abstract

The impact of agriculture on regional air quality creates significant challenges to sustainability of food supplies and to the quality of national resources. Agricultural emissions to the atmosphere can lead to many nuisances, such as smog, haze, or offensive odors. They can also create more serious effects on human or environmental health, such as those posed by pesticides and other toxic industrial pollutants. It is recognized that deterioration of the atmosphere is undesirable, but the short‐ and long‐term impacts of specific agricultural activities on air quality are not well known or understood. These concerns led to the organization of the 2009 American Chemical Society Symposium titled Managing Agricultural Gas and Particle Emissions. An outcome of this symposium is this special collection of 14 research papers focusing on various issues associated with production agriculture and its effect on air quality. Topics included emissions from animal feeding operations, odors, volatile organic compounds, pesticides, mitigation, modeling, and risk assessment. These papers provide new research insights, identify gaps in current knowledge, and recommend important future research directions. As the scientific community gains a better understanding of the relationships between anthropogenic activities and their effects on environmental systems, technological advances should enable a reduction in adverse consequences on the environment.

Plant Health Management: Crop Protection with Nematicides

“…The search for alternatives to soil fumigants and nematicides has already resulted in some remarkable developments, such as emulsified 1,3-D formulations for chemigation, combination of products with increased efficacy (1,3-D/choropicrin combinations) and improved tarpaulin covers that reduce treatment rate or increase efficacy while mitgating emissions (Yates et al, 2011). But in the long run, similar challenges to other pesticides have been met with the development of superior compounds and innovative technologies.…”

Velvet Bean (Mucuna pruriens var. utilis) a Cover Crop as Bioherbicide to Preserve the Environmental Services of Soil

“…The Green Revolution started immediately after the Second World War and was characterized by: a) increased mechanization of soil management, b) increased use of fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, herbicides, veterinarians and other non-essential additives, and c) a fast and widespread development of genetic improvement programs for plant and animal species (Wade, 1974;Greenland, 1975;Tivy, 1990;Mulvaney et al, 2009;Yamada et al, 2009;Yates et al, 2011). Those scientific and technological developments were rapidly and widely adopted in the USA, Europe and Australia, while socio-economic and cultural factors limited their use in Latin America, Africa and Asia (Greenland, 1975;Pimentel et al, 1980;Yamada et al, 2009).…”

“…However, fertilizers have not replaced the function of organic matter and other management practices; rather, soil erosion and toxic waste have disproportionately increased with the increase of agricultural production, leading to a progressive decline in crop productivity due to soil degradation and contamination of aquifers and surface water bodies. Land productivity has also declined due to increasing problems of weed infestation, pests and diseases (Cox &Atkins, 1979;Mulvaney et al, 2009;Yates et al, 2011).…”

Polarization Lidar Detection of Agricultural Aerosol Emissions

“…These aerosols have a negative effect on the environment and air quality, entailing serious risks to human and animal health. For example, PM has been linked to cardiac and respiratory diseases [4]. In addition, spray drift can damage crops close to the treated area, contaminate surface water, and reach residential areas.…”