Zoonotic diseases, climate change, the manure problem ('nitrogen crisis'): just a random list of major problems of relevance to veterinary medicine because of their links with both animals and ecology. I argue that veterinary history has an important role to play in reflecting on these issues with...

In the 1970s social awareness of the effects of industrial activities on the environment and our food chains grew enormously. At the same time large scale farm animal husbandry evolved rapidly in the Netherlands as elsewhere. In the context of environmental pollution, factory farming became...

To mitigate the concentrations of fine particulate matter in livestock farming areas, techniques are needed which reduce emissions from poultry barns. In this pilot study, measurements were carried out on the PMX Agri system of the company StaticAir, installed inside a broiler barn. In deviation...

To mitigate the concentrations of fine particulate matter in livestock farming areas, techniques are needed which reduce emissions from poultry barns. In this pilot study, measurements were carried out on the ionization lights of the company Freshlight, installed inside a layer barn. In deviation...

The effects of air pollution on health have been generating attention for years. A large number of pulmonologists have recently expressed concerns about this in an open letter to Dutch Members of Parliament. Air pollution arises mainly in all kinds of combustion processes; in addition, atmospheric...

This desk study investigated the effects of mono-fermentation on ammonia, methane and nitrous oxide emissions on a dairy farm housing 150 cows in 80 hectares of grassland with peat soil. The effects of mono-fermentation on gas emissions have been mapped, as well as the consequences for income....

This report describes the structure and updates to the INITIATOR model, which is designed to calculate manure distribution and ammonia emissions across the Netherlands. The model takes into account manure production on farms, sales of manure outside Dutch agriculture and manure application on Dutch ...

This review aims to investigate how and in which life stages the microbiome can be successfully influenced to reduce enteric methane emissions. The rumen microbiome is the collection microbial genomes found in an individual's rumen. Among the microbiota of the rumen is understood to mean the...

For centuries, the groundwater level in the Dutch peat meadow area was so high that the topsoil remained wet all year round, thus the peat was only slowly broken down. To make modern production agriculture possible, groundwater levels were decreased from the 1960s. As a result, oxygen from the air...

This report describes the first prototyping round of the implementation of feeding strategies to reduce methane emissions on five dairy farms. The project goal is to reduce both methane and ammonia emission with 30% compared to the reference year. Feeding strategies were developed, implemented and...