Managing Manure To Improve Air and Water Quality. Economic Research Report No. 9. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service

Animal waste from confined animal feeding operations is a potential source of air and water quality degradation from evaporation of gases, runoff to surface water, and leaching to ground water. This report assesses the potential economic and environmental tradeoffs between water quality policies and air quality policies that require the animal agriculture sector to take potentially costly measures to abate pollution. A farm-level analysis of hog farms estimates the economic and environmental tradeoffs that occur when policies are designed to address pollutant flows to one environmental medium without considering flows to another medium. A national analysis addresses the broader impacts of coordinated (water and air) policies, including long-term structural adjust-ments and welfare impacts on both producers and consumers. The report also analyzes the potential implications of adding air quality regulations to existing Clean Water Act regulations in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, where a limited land base increases producers ’ costs of meeting manure management requirements