Research from the University of Michigan has unveiled critical insights into the impact of animal feeding operations (AFOs) on air quality and health insurance coverage across the United States. The modeling effort revealed more than 15,000 concentrated cattle and hog feeding operations. Jointly, they produce roughly 70% of the nation’s beef cattle and an astonishing 98% of its pigs. Together, these operations take up an area the size of almost 500,000 football fields—profoundly impacting the communities that border them.
Counties with AFOs have a higher burden of air pollution. That’s particularly the case for particulate matter referred to as PM2.5. This pollutant is considered to be the most dangerous as it can easily be inhaled, causing significant health issues, particularly in sensitive populations. This research tells a shocking story. Areas with AFOs are more likely to lack adequate health insurance.
Overview of Animal Feeding Operations
The new research spearheaded by the University of Houston’s S. Chamanara along with a dozen other researchers offers the most complete mapping of AFOs across the country. This map shows the shocking concentration of hog and cattle feeding operations across the country. In fact, one quarter of these operations—even fewer—are found within only 30 counties (of more than 3,000 nationwide).
Chamanara said, “I don’t recall the numbers specifically, but honestly, at the end of this, the data was only about 5,000 places.” This unprecedented dataset provides new tools to researchers and policymakers alike. Now they’re able to understand the spatial distribution of these operations and better estimate their environmental impacts.
Dimitris Gounaridis, one of the lead researchers on the study, wants to highlight how unique our access to data is in this country. In fact, he says it wasn’t until environmental activist Sanaz Chamanara did her research that we even had a detailed dataset on these enormous facilities. This study is important because of the large data collection, particularly for girls. It has significant implications for public health and environmental justice.
Air Quality Concerns
The research revealed that counties hosting cattle feeding operations experience PM2.5 levels that are, on average, 28% higher than similar counties without AFOs. In addition, hog operations increase the concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) by an average of 11%. This pollution is especially insidious considering PM2.5 can be as small as a millionth of an inch. Its small size makes it highly inhalable, creating concerning health issues.
Benjamin Goldstein, an environmental health expert, commented on the dangers of PM2.5: “It’s nasty stuff. There are really no safe levels of it.” The results highlight the need for immediate national policies to improve air quality in communities affected by AFOs.
The key takeaway from the report is that these localized air pollution challenges often hit the most vulnerable communities the hardest. By worsening pre-existing health issues, increased pollution levels can worsen overall public health issues.
Implications for Policy and Community Health
The results from this valuable research have huge implications for the work that policymakers and community leaders do every day. Joshua Newell, a co-author of the study, emphasized the importance of targeting specific counties for health impact interventions: “One of the things that this study reveals is that we could focus on a limited number of counties to really address [health impacts] in these communities.”
Newell’s biggest point was to reiterate that these are issues that policymakers, governments, and community groups can actively work to address. This knowledge allows them to develop more effective and narrowly-focused policies and policy measures. By focusing on the counties most affected by AFOs, stakeholders can implement strategic actions to mitigate health risks associated with air pollution.
Beyond its scientific findings, the research serves as a model for public health officials and environmental justice researchers. Chamanara continued, “This is one of our main objectives—to compile this dataset—so we really wanted to make it easy for others to access.”
Taken together, these findings unambiguously point toward the urgent need to address widespread environmental and public health harms stemming from AFOs. In order to do this successfully, all levels of government, health organizations and community partners need to collaborate.
