Air pollution from large, concentrated New Mexico dairy farms causes an estimated $217 million annually in health costs, with most of the toll coming from ammonia emissions that form dangerous particulate matter, according to a new study.
People living near concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, in California, Texas and Iowa suffer from higher rates of cancer, suggesting that the air and water pollution from the massive farms may be playing a role, according to a new study.
By Brian Bienkowski
Roughly a quarter of the nation’s large cattle, dairy and hog farms are located in just 30 US counties, a new satellite-mapping study has found. The research also links large farms — whether in these dense hotspots or scattered elsewhere — to elevated air pollution.
By Carey Gillam
On Tuesday, a team of 16 scientists released the results of a controversial two-year study of pollution patterns in key waterways in Iowa. The New Lede talked with Claire Hruby, one of the scientific advisors on the report, about the new report. Hruby is assistant professor, Environmental Science and Sustainability College of Arts and Sciences at Drake University in Iowa.
By Shannon Kelleher
When voters head to the polls on Tuesday to decide the next US president, residents of Sonoma County, California, will be asked to decide another contentious issue – they will be voting on a measure that would make their county the first in the nation to ban factory farms.
By Shannon Kelleher
Beachgoers may be on the lookout for sharks and jellyfish, but one danger lurking beneath the waves this summer originated onshore — pathogens from human and farm animal waste. Over half of US beaches tested in 2022 harbored potentially unsafe levels of contamination, according to an analysis released today by the organizations Environment America Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group.
By Shannon Kelleher
Industrial-sized livestock operations have long been known for contaminating the environment and mistreating animals. Now, amid growing government incentives to turn the manure generated at these operations into climate-friendly biofuels, there are mounting concerns that the efforts could make industrial farming bigger and more dangerous.