Factory Farms Don’t Just Stink — They Make It Harder to Breathe, Too

New research out this week underscores what many environmental justice advocates in the U.S. have long argued: Animal feeding operations — another term for factory farming — pollute the air, and these environmental impacts are disproportionately felt by nearby communities, who are often people of color.

The report, published Tuesday and led by researchers at the University of Michigan, maps cattle and hog farms across the United States at the county level — and finds that these animal feeding operations tend to be sited in communities with higher percentages of Latino residents and uninsured residents. Fine particulate matter — or PM2.5 — levels in census tracts with cattle operations are 28 percent higher than similar census tracts without, according to the report. In census tracts with hog farms, PM2.5 levels were found to be 11 percent higher than those without.