Animal Feeding Operations

Animal feeding operations (AFOs) are an important source of atmospheric ammonia (NH3), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). Monitoring of air emissions and soil leaching from AFOs is essential for preserving local air and water quality, especially since such processes are largely driven by biological activity and local meteorological conditions with significant variability over time, space, and management practices. There is an urgent need for scientifically sound, mass balance based, process models for quantifying air emissions from animal feeding operations. Measurement programs are essential, but must be supplemented by process-oriented modeling that incorporates mass balance constraints to extrapolate in both space and time.

In collaboration with academic and industry, AGS is developing a suite of tools that are integrated into a seamless decision support system for estimating air emissions from animal feeding operations. Full system analysis with dynamic, process-based models can inexpensively and efficiently evaluate mitigation scenarios under various conditions, and can help target mitigation toward facility component(s) and/or operation(s) that cause the greatest emissions. Example AFO projects include:

• Applying Process-based Models for Estimating GHG and Air Emission from California Dairies.
• The development of a web-GIS: Nutrient and Greenhouse Gas Evaluation Tool (NUGGET)

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