Animal Agriculture and Air Quality Workshops

David Schmidt, Assistant Extension Engineer
Larry Jacobson, Professor and Extension Engineer
Jun Zhu, Associate Professor and Extension Engineer, Southern Research and Outreach Center, Waseca, MN
Kevin Janni, Professor, Head, and Extension Engineer

Objective

To provide community leaders, livestock producers, and concerned citizens with the best science-based information available on how livestock odors are generated, measured, described, and controlled.

Need or Impact

Odor issues related to animal agriculture continue to be a major obstacle in both the preservation and expansion of the industry in Minnesota and throughout the United States. Education on this issue reframes the debate from “Animal agriculture stinks and we don’t want it” to “How can we resolve these odor issues and preserve quality of rural life and the animal agriculture industry?” These workshops have been held annually since 1999 at various locations throughout Minnesota. The workshops have resulted in the adoption of OFFSET as a tool to help site new livestock and poultry facilities in several counties in Minnesota, the implementation of covers and biofilters for odor control on several farm sites, and a keen awareness and understanding of the odor issues among local units of government, farmers, technicians, consultants, and regulators. In 2005, 30 individuals attended one or both of these odor workshops.

Status

Ongoing.