Livestock Contribution to Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) in the
US Posted: February 16, 2009 Under the current (January 20,
2009) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA; www.epa.gov) ruling,
all large confined animal feeding operations (including
operations with 700 or more mature dairy cows) must notify state
and local emergency response officials about ammonia or hydrogen
sulfide emissions from dairy operations, if they emit 100 pounds
or more of these substances in any 24-hour period. Therefore,
the time is right to review the concerns with ammonia emissions
and the particular role of livestock in the global context of
anthropogenic air pollution. Agricultural emissions of ammonia
are primarily from fertilized land and domestic and farm animal
waste. The process of ammonia formation from animal manure is
well studied. Ammonia concentration in animal excreta is low.
Although nitrogen concentration of feces is relatively high, it
is primarily in organic and non-volatile form. The main source
of ammonia emissi