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New research out this week underscores what many environmental justice advocates in the U.S. have long argued: Animal feeding operations — another term for factory farming — pollute the air, and these environmental impacts are disproportionately felt by nearby communities, who are often people of color.

The report, published Tuesday and led by researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Michigan, maps cattle and hog farms across the United States at the county level — and finds that these animal feeding operations tend to be sited in communities with higher percentages of Latino residents and uninsured residents. Fine particulate matter — or PM2.5 — levels in census tracts with cattle operations are 28 percent higher than similar census tracts without, according to the report. In census tracts with hog farms, PM2.5 levels were found to be 11 percent higher than those without.

In their report, the authors caution that the air pollution burden in these areas could lead to more emergency room visits and hospitalizations — which itself poses significant financial problems for residents lacking adequate health insurance coverage. Environmental experts say that lack of governmental oversight into industrial animal agriculture, combined with rising temperatures caused by climate change, put these vulnerable communities at risk of various health problems.

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It’s the study authors’ hope that their data could aid campaigns to better regulate cattle and hog production and lessen their environmental impact, especially at the local level. The study found that roughly a quarter of animal feeding operations, or AFOs, are located in just 30 counties across the U.S.

“That’s a huge spatial concentration,” said Joshua Newell, a professor of environment and sustainability at the University of Michigan and one of the........

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