Air Pollution and Agriculture

Abstract

Until the middle of this century, air pollution was primarily a problem of urban and industrial regions. In the last three decades, changes in the dispersal of pollutants and increases in motor vehicle emissions have led to greater pollutant impacts in more remote rural areas. On a national scale in North America and western Europe, current losses of agricultural production due to air pollutants are small relative to other factors, but local impacts on sensitive crops may be substantial. Current international trends suggest that now, and in the future, the greatest concern should be over impacts on agriculture in newly industrialized and developing countries, rather than in those countries where most research effort is currently concentrated.