Animal Feeding Operations - Outreach and Education

EPA has worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Animal Agriculture Discussion Group to develop education, outreach, and training materials to facilitate improved understanding of livestock and poultry feeding operations and water quality protection measures.

• Beneficial Uses of Manure and Environmental Protection - A two-page outreach factsheet developed jointly by EPA and animal agriculture organizations (2015).
   
• Video series for poultry producers on environmental management, developed by U.S. Poultry and Egg with funding from EPA (2016): 
  • Environmental Management: Why is it Necessary?
  • Clean Water Act Regulatory Requirements for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
  • Nutrient Management Planning and Implementation
     
• Why EPA and the States Inspect Farms (2018) was developed by U.S. Poultry and Egg in cooperation with EPA. It provides video coverage on why a farm may be inspected, how the farmer should prepare for the inspection, and how the inspection will likely be structured.
   
• Animal Agriculture, Manure Management and Water Quality modules include multimedia features such as videos and virtual tours of farms.
  • Part I, Manure Management and Water Quality (developed by EPA in 2017), covers:
    • Trends in Animal Agriculture,
    • Manure Collection and Storage,
    • Land Application of Manure Nutrients,
    • Water Quality Issues Associated with Manure,
    • Clean Water Act Requirements, and
    • Planning for Stewardship.
  • Part II, Conservation (developed by NRCS in 2018), covers:
    • The Importance of Conservation in Animal Agriculture, and
    • Conservation Practices Commonly Used on Animal Agriculture Farms.

Open Dialogue

EPA established an Animal Agriculture Discussion Group (AADG) to develop a shared understanding of how to implement the Clean Water Act. AADG keeps communication open and improves two-way understandings of viewpoints. AADG is an informal group of animal agriculture stakeholders including representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, all sectors of the animal feeding industry and their associations, academia, and states.

To learn about the ADDG view Overview of the Animal Agriculture Discussion Group (pdf) (675.25 KB)