Recipient Organization
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
ITHACA,NY 14853
Performing Department
Biological & Environmental Engineering
Non Technical Summary
Communities situated in areas with animal operations may be subjected to odors that affect their quality of life. Human health can be affected negatively by exposure to odorous gases. Common symptoms include eye, nose, and throat irritation, headache, nausea, diarrhea, cough, and drowsiness, among others. In a survey conducted in New York, 61% of large dairy farms (>300 animal I units) received odor complaints from neighbors, 42% of the medium (100~300 animal units) and 24% of the small (<100 animal units) dairy farms received complaints (Wright and Inglis, 2001). Modern communication and transportation allow people traditionally living in cities to move to rural areas. Because these non-farm residents may not be accustomed to a rural setting and have different expectations of rural life, increased numbers of odor complaints can be expected in the future. Community planners in New York are in need of a tool that can quantitatively predict the impacts of odors from animal operations on surrounding communities. Two specific examples of existing programs that would find this information useful are: 1) county farmland protection boards: one of their objectives is to preserve farmland in blocks, see: http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/AP/agservices/farmprotect.html; and 2) NYS has ag-municipal planning grants that help towns develop master plans, see: http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/rfps/MuniGrant/SDOC0394.pdf or http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/RFPS.html Likewise, managers of animal operation need a tool to promote "smart" growth around their facilities. The University of Minnesota has been developing a decision-support model (referred to as the Schmidt model) to predict the annoyance factor of odors associated with different farm activities. This decision-support model has not been applied or evaluated in a New York setting, but provides an excellent starting point for creating such a community resource development tool in New York. Benefactors from this project include the dairy industry and their surrounding communities. It is only through methodical community planning that animal operations and their surrounding communities can exist harmoniously. Using a decision-support model to predict the magnitude of odor annoyance will assist in establishing realistic expectations. For example, according to the Schmidt decision support model, a residence 1,100 feet from a typical 700-cow dairy farm will experience annoyance-free conditions 91% of the time. However, this translates to 66 hours per month of annoying odors. To achieve a 98% annoyance-free environment, the same residence will need to be 8,000 feet from the farm but still may experience seven hours per month of annoying odors. Applying and analyzing the Schmidt model to situations in NY will help in determining realistic setback distances between farm units and residences for mutual co-existence.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
GOALS/OBJECTIVES: There are three primary objectives to this research. The first objective is to apply the Schmidt model to a New York dairy community. The criteria for the test community include available GIS data (i.e., location of dwellings) and cooperating dairy farms within the community. Once the farm data are incorporated into the model, theoretical odor annoyance curves will be established. The second objective is to validate the outcome of the Schmidt model using subjective odor reports and quantitative air measurements (more detail below). Odor reporting forms will be provided to residences inside and adjacent to the proposed setback area. When annoying odors are suspected above theoretical threshold levels, air samples will be taken for analysis of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide using gas chromatography. These concentrations will be used to correlate to published objectionable odor standards. The third objective is to evaluate the suitability of the Schmidt model for applications to New York conditions. Technical barriers, such as the lack of GIS data or poor prediction of annoying odors, will be identified and further funding sought. EXPECTED OUTPUTS: There are two significant outcomes from this project. First, an accurate decision-support model can be used by communities to determine a threshold annoyance-free odor standard. It is logical that new dairy farms would need to be designed and situated to meet the annoyance-free standard. Second, the decision-support model can be used to evaluate changes to existing dairy farms to meet the annoyance-free odor threshold. Thirdly, actual data will be collected during perceived odor events so that physical data collected at the time of the event can be compared to current standards for odor offensiveness to determine the current validity of these standards. All these outcomes will help community planners be more effective and fair to both the farmer and the community non-farm residents.
Project Methods
PROCEDURE: Specifically, this project will adopt and expand on the work of David Schmidt (M.S. PE, Extension Engineer with the University of Minnesota Manure Management Systems, also a collaborator on this project) to predict the annoyance factor of odors associated with different farm activities. Schmidt's model determines a Total Odor Emissions Factor (TOEF) which is used to estimate a separation distance to achieve different annoyance-free frequencies. Phase I of this project is to apply the Schmidt model to a NY dairy community and evaluate its effectiveness. The criteria for the test community include available GIS data (i.e., location of dwellings) and availability of cooperating dairy farms within the community, since data from the dairy farms are supplied on a voluntary basis. Once the farm data are incorporated into the model, theoretical odor annoyance curves will be established. Phase II is to validate the outcome (predictions) of the Schmidt model using subjective odor data and quantitative air measurements taken during an event. Odor reporting forms will be provided to residences inside and adjacent (outside) to the proposed setback area. When annoying odors are suspected above theoretical threshold levels, the project team will collect air samples for analysis of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide using gas chromatography. These concentrations will be compared to published objectionable odor standards. Phase III is to evaluate the suitability of the Schmidt model for applications to New York conditions. The sample gas data will be analyzed in four steps in order to correlate odor intensity and concentration of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia for dairy farms: 1) sample collection and preparation; 2) H2S and NH3 concentration measurement; 3) odor intensity measurement; and 4) data processing. IMPACT/EVALUATION Applying and evaluating the Schmidt decision-support model for community planning will require the support of a local community and its dairy farm members. A local community will be selected for study based on its overall cooperation, the availability of specific GIS data, and the willingness of the dairy farm members to subject themselves to oversight. The project is a team effort consisting of the State Conservation Engineer, Natural Resources Conservation Service, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, community planners, local farmers and community members. This team will evaluate the effectiveness of the project by direct interviews of impacted community members and how the project has affected expansions of current dairy farms or relocation of existing farms to more appropriate sites within the community.