Best Management Practices (BMPs) for Ammonia Emissions Reduction from Animal Feeding Operations: Update on a Colorado Case Study

Ammonia emissions from agriculture are a growing concern, in particular, in Colorado where nitrogen deposition in Rocky Mountain National Park has highlighted public concerns. Due to the high level of political pressure on agriculture to reduce its emissions, the agricultural community in Colorado has recently developed a Rocky Mountain National Park Ag Strategy for decreasing ammonia emissions from agriculture and nitrogen deposition in the park. The strategy includes the completion of a thorough literature review on Best Management Practices (BMPs) for ammonia reduction and a field evaluation of the efficacy and cost of the most promising BMPs on local feedlots and dairies. In addition, a survey will be completed to evaluate producer attitudes and understanding of the ammonia issue, as well as current levels of ammonia BMP adoption, and constraints to increased BMP adoption. The strategy also includes education and outreach functions including the development of a BMP factsheet series, photo gallery of ammonia BMPs, and a decision tree to aide producer decision-making regarding ammonia BMPs. These components will be available to producers and their consultants through a website. Our goal is to minimize the negative human health and environmental impacts of ammonia emissions from agriculture through the adoption of field-tested, effective, and economical BMPs on Colorado’s feedlots and dairies.