In communities living next to factory farms, residents have long voiced their concerns about environmental pollution. Now, research shows that not only can we see the air pollution generated by industrial swine facilities, but we can see that it’s disproportionately affecting communities of color — all the way from space.

A new study published in Environmental Science & Technology used satellite data to measure ammonia — a common pollutant produced by factory farms from the massive amounts of animal manure — in North Carolina. Across the eastern part of the state, University of Virginia researchers saw that ammonia levels were elevated in areas where there were high concentrations of industrialized pig facilities.

In their research, they found significant population disparities. From 2016 to 2021, ammonia levels were 49 percent higher for Indigenous communities, 35 percent higher for Hispanic and Latino communities, and 27 percent higher for Black communities, compared to non-Hispanic white communities.

Ammonia has a distinctly unpleasant smell and can irritate the respiratory tract and skin. So for the people who live near these facilities, these findings likely won’t come as a surprise — they can smell and feel it. In the 2022 documentary The Smell of Money, which follows a community’s fight against a factory farm in North Carolina, residents talked about the revolting odor they’re forced to smell daily and their experiences of difficulty breathing, nausea, and chronic conditions like asthma.

But as obvious as this information may be to residents affected by factory farms, having data to back up their claims of air pollution and other nuisances is important, said Sally Pusede, lead author of the study and an associate professor at the University of Virginia’s Department of Environmental Sciences. What makes this study unique, she argued, is that it’s taking measurements of an air quality impact and proving that it’s unequally distributed to communities of color in Eastern North Carolina.

The study also highlighted a gap in tools and regulations: The researchers used space-based technology to consistently measure ammonia, which isn’t regularly monitored by state or federal agencies.

“There are very few measurements of air pollution associated with industrialized agriculture from the ground,” Pusede told Vox. Even if residents are........

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