Introduction

Air pollutants in livestock buildings represent a potential risk to the health and well-being of livestock and of workers. Emissions of these air pollutants may also present a risk of pollution to the wider environment. Aerial pollutants of particular interest are ammonia (NH3), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and particulate matter (PM10 and TSP) and odor.

Six leading Universities have partnered to quantify the aerial pollutant emissions from confined animal buildings on a continuous and long-term basis. This project is the first and only project with of its kind and will provide essential baseline data on aerial emissions from typical U.S. livestock and poultry buildings to regulators, producers, researchers, students, and other stakeholders. Monitoring results will also be used to study trends of ventilation rate, animal weight, humidity, temperature, and manure management and their relationship to aerial pollutant emissions.