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Home > About NC State > Chancellor > Speeches and Writings > Workshop on Agriculture Air QualityWorkshop on Agriculture Air Quality
Monday, June 5, 2006
Welcoming and Opening Remarks
Potomac, MD
8:30 a.m.
Let me add my welcome to you to this first-ever Workshop on Agricultural Air Quality: State of the Science. In the next few days, you will have the opportunity to hear and see a wide range of presentations on this important topic - including scientists from 16 countries and five continents - in addition to learning about new research, and presenting your own. You'll also hear from our keynote speaker, Dr. Ralph Cicerone - President of the National Academy of Sciences. We're all looking forward to hearing his remarks.
The participants represent many stakeholder groups concerned with the growing need to understand agricultural impacts on our atmosphere and to develop beneficial policies to improve air quality. Attendees include leaders in international, federal, state and local government; academia; environmental and public interest groups; business leaders in crop and animal agriculture; and professional societies and trade associations.
In many ways, the state of the science concerning agriculture and air quality can be compared to the science surrounding agricultural pesticides and environmental quality a few years after Rachael Carson's Silent Spring in 1962. It can also be compared to the knowledge about the effect of fertilizers on water quality following the statements of Barry Commoner in the late 1960's who contended that fertilizers were ruining the soil and badly degrading water quality.
These individuals perhaps stimulated the first steps in the thousands of research experiments designed to determine real evidence about pesticides and fertilizers and to develop Best Management Practices for minimizing the environmental problems caused by their use. As a result, the use of both pesticides and fertilizers are much safer now than they were then.
Some of you in audience are likely the Rachael Carson's and Barry Commoner's of agriculture and air quality. Some of you have clearly pointed out some air quality degradations caused by agriculture and some of you have developed best management practices to minimize the problems, but we are a long way from understanding the full extent of the problems and knowing how to minimize or prevent them.
This Workshop represents a significant milestone for air quality research and technology transfer at the United States Department of Agriculture. Scientists will explore policy issues and advancements in the sciences associated with agricultural air quality in several forums and several formats during and after the Workshop.
Developing sound research needed for agriculture in an increasingly regulated environment is a particularly challenging opportunity. The immediacy of policy and laws to protect people and resources contrasts with the much slower process of problem solving based on hypothesis testing and technology transfer. The unique mission of the USDA's CSREES Air Quality Program--that is to foster sound science, enhance stakeholder education and competencies, and transfer this knowledge through high-impact extension programs--is critical in developing effective agricultural air quality policies.
Participation in - and the resulting outputs from - this Workshop will provide the research and outreach necessary to assist regulatory authorities in developing and implementing appropriate, scientifically-based recommendations and policies for agricultural producers based on high quality, peer-reviewed, emission data. Practices documented at this Workshop should also enable the development and evaluation of emission control technologies that are both effective and economical for producers.
Emissions of air pollutants during agricultural operations are an important emerging research area, best studied with interdisciplinary approaches that can inform policy makers of the costs and benefits of various potential mitigation options.
Agriculture, forest and range production practices are increasingly subject to U.S. state and federal regulations intended to protect air resources. However, data on agricultural emissions of regulated pollutants, nuisance odors and fugitive dust often either do not exist or are insufficient to develop appropriate policy, both in the United States and worldwide.
We in North Carolina understand the importance of the nation's $240 billion dollar agribusiness industry, as well as the importance of environmental management by methods that are socially acceptable. The State of North Carolina and North Carolina State University, in particular, have successfully developed an innovative model for agricultural air quality management.
The partnership between the Attorney General of North Carolina, two of the states agribusiness companies (Smithfield Foods and Premium Standard Farms) and North Carolina State University have enabled us to undertake a major initiative through the North Carolina Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center to evaluate and identify "Environmentally Superior Technology" for managing animal manure. For this, we have developed a rigorous scientific program and have named this program OPEN-for ("Odor, Pathogens, and Emissions of Nitrogen"). This innovative initiative involves collaborative efforts with other universities, industry, USDA and regulatory agencies, including EPA.
I'd like take this opportunity to acknowledge several individuals whose hard work has made this workshop a reality, including: workshop co-chairs Dr. Viney Aneja of NC State and Dr. Bill Schlesinger of Duke University; other members of the Steering Committee; and Dr. Ray Knighton of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Please join me in thanking these individuals. I also want to thank the staff of the Ecological Society of America for all of their efforts in organizing the workshop. We are also appreciative of several other organizations that have financially supported this workshop.
In closing, I'd like to emphasize that this workshop is a unique opportunity to help shape the future of the agricultural practices and agricultural air quality analysis framework for the United States. The papers you have prepared for the proceedings and the series of activities that will follow this workshop, including special journal issues and assessment reports, will become a primary source of scientific information for understanding air emissions from agricultural operations and - where necessary - for reducing them and mitigating their effects. This is an opportunity to make a difference, and I am confident that will happen.
I applaud the organizers of this Workshop for bringing together such a relevant program to work toward creating solutions that respond to the needs of our global society. It is a pleasure to be here with you, and I wish you every success in your efforts.