National expert on air quality and agriculture issues to speak

University Park, Pa. -- Air quality issues confronting agriculture including climate change, environmental pollution, and biofuels as well as connections to food protection will be the topic of a program being presented by Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences on Thursday, Oct. 1 from 1:25 to 2:25 p.m. in 324 Agriculture Sciences and Industries Building. The public is invited to attend.

Raymond Knighton is the national program leader for the USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service. Knighton provides national leadership for air quality research programs focused on emission data and the mitigation of greenhouse gases from agricultural production practices. His presentation will address air quality issues and agriculture including climate change, environmental pollutants and biofuels.

According to Knighton, direct and indirect emissions to the atmosphere from agriculture have been recognized as contributing to a growing number of environmental concerns in the U.S. For example, agriculture is the primary source of ammonia emissions. Agriculture’s role in contributing to many environmental concerns such as regional haze, ozone formation and global warming will be discussed along with priorities for research and education to quantify, understand and mitigate the emissions from agriculture.

 

Knighton has been a National Program Leader with USDA since 1999. He has a doctorate in soil physics from Cornell University and previously conducted research on the fate and transport of water and solutes in irrigated cropping systems at North Dakota State University. Knighton also represents USDA on the Air Quality Research Subcommittee of the Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources sponsored by the White House Office of Science, Technology and Policy.

The program is being jointly presented by Penn State’s department of agricultural and biological engineering, the Environment and Natural Resources Institute, and Penn State Agriculture and Environment Center. For more information on the program, contact Kristen Saacke Blunk, director , at ksaackeblunk@psu.edu, or 814-863-8756.

Last Updated January 9, 2015