Environment

Farm Pollution

Agriculture has become the leading source of fine-particulate air pollution in many parts of the United States, Europe, Russia and China, according to a new study.

Writing in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, scientists from NASA and Columbia University warn that fumes from nitrogen-rich fertilizers and animal waste combine in the air with carbon emissions to form solid particles that constitute a major contributor to disease and death.

But they say that if emissions decline as predicted, the fine-particle pollution will go down even if fertilizer use expands.