Agricultural Dust Program
Revised on: October 28, 2019 - 10:36am
What is the Agricultural Dust Program?
Agricultural Dust Program compliance officers:
- Educate agricultural operations about dust impacts and measures to reduce dust | Learn More >
- Inspect agricultural operations for use of best management practices (Ag BMPs)
- Respond to public agricultural dust complaints and monitor exceedances of particulate matter having an aerodynamic dimater less than 10 microns (PM10), commonly called dust
What are Agricultural Best Management Practices (Ag BMP)?
Per Arizona Administrative Code, an Ag BMP is a technique, verified by scientific research, that is practical, economically feasible and effective in reducing PM10 emissions from a regulated agricultural activity. In 1981, the AG BMP committee was formed | Learn More >
Who must follow agricultural dust rules?
The state of Arizona has general rules that require all agricultural operations across the state to take reasonable precautions to minimize dust emissions. In addition to these rules, operations in areas that do not meet federal air quality standards (PM10 non-attainment areas) are required to abide by more specific requirements, including maintaining an Ag BMP Permit Record for an agricultural operation or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) if it is greater than 10 adjoining acres in size and/or meets animal number thresholds. This permit is intended to reduce dust from these operations by requiring operators to implement Ag BMPs. The Ag BMP Permit Record must be kept up to date by the operator and made available to ADEQ within two business days of notice to the operator.