WASHINGTON — Moving away from what it deems outdated study data, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently announced that it will not be developing air emissions estimates from the 2005 Air Compliance Agreement (Animal Feeding Operations Consent Agreement). This action is designed to bring closure to two decades of uncertainty for the nation’s farmers.
The agency adds that this will not change implementation of the Clean Air Act or its mission for clean air for farms and rural areas.
Twenty years ago, after a National Academy of Sciences report that sought improved ways to estimate air emissions from AFOs (Animal Feeding Operations), poultry and livestock farms that are raising animals in confinement. The EPA offered farms voluntary agreement with the National Air Emissions Monitoring Study (NAEMS).
Concerns were raised about the study to affordably provide estimates and would present regulatory requirements that would become a burden and get in the way of agricultural efforts to produce food production.
EPA also noted that in the past 20 years, many farms have modernized their facilities and systems, have sold or closed. Farmers who raise broilers, egg-laying hens, hogs and dairy cattle have continued their operations not knowing if new reporting and permitting would follow, the agency added.
Looking at the data from 2005, EPA said that the numbers were too old, limited and unreliable, and no longer in line with how agricultural operations function today.
“Good science requires good data, and these data are too old and too limited to support methods that farms could rely on,” Abigale Tardif, EPA acting assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, said in the announcement. “We would rather tell farmers that plainly than issue numbers we cannot stand behind. The Trump EPA is committed to providing the public with accurate, scientifically credible information, and to listening to the concerns of America’s farmers.”
The USDA stated its agreement with this recent EPA action.
“For years, America’s farmers have been under threat of an activist EPA’s implementing a burdensome and unnecessary framework, which would subject their operations to potentially massive fines and legal costs,” Stephen Alexander Vaden, USDA’s deputy secretary of agriculture, said in a statement. “Today, under the leadership of President (Donald) Trump and EPA Administrator (Lee) Zeldin, that uncertainty comes to an end.”
“I want to thank the EPA for hearing farmers’ concerns and reviewing the science and data showing that this framework is no longer applicable,” Vaden added. “We will continue to advocate for our farmers and ranchers as they feed, fuel, and clothe the world.”
The agency also notes in its sources of agriculture emissions that in 2022, the agriculture sector directly accounted for 9.4 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., and of this number about 14 percent of agriculture’s total GGEs were from manure management.
EPA said that it will begin notifying the 2,600 AFOs that are subject to the 2005 Air Compliance Agreement and terminate what it has now determined to be as an outdated agreement.
Ag reaction
Agricultural associations representing American farmers and agricultural producers have also recently voiced their approval of the ending of this air emissions agreement.
The United Egg Producers, in a statement, noted that, “America’s egg farmers applaud (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin and the Trump administration for taking long-awaited action on outdated air compliance measures. On Oct. 30, 2026, EPA announced it will not develop emissions estimation methods for livestock and poultry farms as part of the 2005 Air Compliance Agreement (ACA).”
“United Egg Producers on behalf of its farmer-members provided multiple rounds of review and comment on the ACA over the past 20 years and across several administrations,” UEP added. “UEP advocated that the NAEMS data on barn designs and egg production practices no longer represent how most egg farms operate today, and the EPA’s decision to terminate the agreement was welcome news to the egg industry.”
The Delmarva Chicken Association, an association that has worked for years on environmental enhancements, is also cheering this new EPA decision.
“We have long shared our concerns with EPA that data from the National Air Emission Monitoring Study (NAEMS) was too outdated to guide modern-day farm regulations,” Holly Porter, DCA executive director, said. “Our Delmarva chicken community is always moving forward with new technology and modernizing how we raise broiler chickens, making it difficult to use limited data from a study conducted more than 20 years ago.”
“The Delmarva chicken community shares everyone’s interest in studying and improving air quality on and around farms; after all, it’s the air family farmers raising chicken breathe, too,” Porter added. “For more than 15 years, we have provided growers technical assistance and cost-share funding to establish vegetative environmental buffers on farms that reduce air emissions. In 2019 we partnered with the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) and the Campbell Foundation to conduct ambient air monitoring on the Eastern Shore, leading the way in collecting data on ammonia and particulate matter.”
For more on Maryland ambient air monitoring, visit https://mde.maryland.gov/programs/air/AirQualityMonitoring.
The National Pork Producers Council is also pleased that this action will ease uncertainty of potential federal permitting.
“This move confirms what farmers have long known: Every farm is different, and there is no one-size-fits-all model to apply to them,” Rob Brenneman, National Pork Producers Council president, said. “Each farm should be judged on its own factors, including its location, its practices, its animals and its people. We’re grateful to EPA for listening to the farmers who feed this nation.”
That National Milk Producers Federation is also in support of this recent EPA action.
“Dairy farmers signed up for this study in good faith two decades ago, and they’ve been waiting ever since to find out what it would mean for their farms,” Gregg Doud, National Milk Producers Federation president and CEO, said in a statement. “You can’t measure a handful of farms years ago and use those numbers to set expectations for thousands of other farms. We appreciate EPA following the data and giving farmers a clear, final answer.”
“There’s a saying in our industry: when you’ve seen one dairy farm, you’ve seen one dairy farm,” Clay Detlefsen, NMPF senior vice president and staff counsel, added. “That’s why this approach was never going to work. Farms vary too much from one another and change too much over time. We’re grateful to EPA staff for their professionalism over the years, and we look forward to continued collaboration on practical, science-based approaches.”
