Predicting Farm Smells Seen as a Way to Guide Livestock Locations

 (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images via the North Dakota Monitor)

(Jeff Beach – North Dakota Monitor) – How smelly is a hog farm? That’s a question the North Dakota Department of Agriculture plans to answer with a computer-generated model to help guide where livestock operations can be located.

Senate Bill 2174 establishes the Agriculture Department’s odor modeling tool as the way to determine how often smells from a farm will be a problem in nearby areas.

The discussion comes as two large dairy farms are planned for the Red River Valley and as North Dakota tries to catch up to neighboring states on animal agriculture.

The model will use data such as the number and type of animal, terrain, odor-reducing practices, wind and other weather conditions to determine how far away from the animals that odor may be noticeable.

Ag groups testifying on the bill in front of the Senate Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Committee were mostly supportive of the plan as a way to make it clear where livestock operations can and can’t be established.