Pollution Control For Agriculture

Pollution Control for Agriculture is a substantial revision of the ""Agricultural Waste Management"" book that discusses the implications and possible management systems for crop production. This 14-chapter text also provides the basic information needed to understand the concern on pollution from agricultural wastes. Agricultural wastes are defined as the excesses and residues from the growing and first processing of raw agricultural products, such as fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, and dairy products. The introductory chapters deal with the influence of legal constraints and changing agricultural practices on the environmental problems associated with agricultural production. The following chapter focuses on the characteristics of food processing wastes and animal wastes. The remaining chapters are devoted to the fundamentals, principles, and benefits of various waste management processes and treatment systems, including biological and biochemical processes, ponds and lagoons, oxygen transfer, aerobic, anaerobic, physical and chemical treatments, nitrogen control, and land disposal. This book is of great value to food agricultural producers, scientists, and engineers who are interested in knowing and applying feasible agricultural waste management concepts and approaches.

Pollution Control for Agriculture, Second Edition describes approaches adaptable to the treatment, disposal, and management of agricultural wastes, incorporating full-scale technologies, concepts, data, and operating systems. The book also discusses energy conservation, natural resource utilization, and nonpoint source control. Examples of problems attributable to agriculture include unbalanced natural ecological systems and increased eutrophication from waste disposal practices. Other problems include the depletion of dissolved oxygen in surface water, and impurities in groundwater from improper waste disposals on land. The text notes that understanding the characteristics of these wastes leads to more effective disposal methods and treatment. For example, biological treatment is preferred for liquid waste that contain dissolved organic solids, while incineration or composting is appropriate for solid waste with a high organic content. The book also lists the options that can be chosen to control agricultural nonpoint sources, the best of which is by planning and management practices that regulate the source and delivery of nonpoint pollutants, These practices will limit nonpoint pollutants from reaching their destinations (surface water or groundwater). The text also emphasizes the need for a balance between the extremes of agricultural production, profit motives, and environmental concerns. The book is suitable for agriculturists, economists, environmentalists, ecologists, and policy makers involved in food production, environmental safety, and health issues.

This book describes the environmental problems associated with agriculture, particularly the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers and the disposal of animal waste. These have become major policy issues in many countries, with the main polluting effect being on water quality. As with other types of pollution, significant reductions in agriculture's contribution to water pollution requires the application of either enforceable regulatory approaches or changes in the economic environment, so that farmers adopt environmentally-friendly production practices. Providing a review and guide to the policy options and their economic administrative and political merits, the reader can develop an understanding of these options and their merits in the emerging policy context. The principal focus is on the developed world, particularly North America and Europe. The book is aimed at advanced students, researchers and professionals in agricultural economics and policy, and environmental and pollution sciences.

Agricultural operations can contribute to water quality deterioration through the release of several materials into water: sediments, pesticides, animal manures, fertilizers and other sources of inorganic and organic matter. This ''guidelines'' document on control and management of agricultural water pollution has the objectives of delineating the nature and consequences of agricultural impacts on water quality, and of providing a framework for practical measures to be undertaken by relevant professionals and decision-makers to control water pollution.

Over the last few decades the quality of many international water bodies has deteriorated, resulting in economic losses from declines in the fishing industry and in tourism, as well as a loss of biodiversity and health impacts from contaminated water. This deterioration has been caused by many factors including nutrient run-off from agriculture, insufficiently treated sewage, drainage of wetlands, coastal erosion, introduction of exotic species, eutrophication and inadequate resource management. One of the most significant sources of degradation has been form excessive discharge of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds (nutrients), due to the poor management practices used in agricultural, domestic and industrial activities. This publication aims to draw the attention of professionals and practitioners working in agricultural and environmental sectors to the experience and successes of the environmentally friendly good agricultural practices being used in the Chesapeake Bay Region of the United States to reduce nutrient loads in water.

Report on methods and practices for controlling water pollution (pollution control) resulting from nonpoint agricultural pollutants - examines erosion control, plant nutrition, fertilization, pesticide control, the application of animal wastes, etc., and includes a glossary. Illustrations, references and statistical tables.