In the United States, climate change is likely to increase average daily temperatures and the frequency of heat waves, which can reduce meat and milk production in animals. Methods that livestock producers use to mitigate thermal stress—including modifications to animal management or housing—tend to increase production costs. We use operation‐level economic data coupled with finely‐scaled climate data to estimate how the local thermal environment affects the technical efficiency of dairies across the United States. We then use this information to estimate the possible decline in milk production in 2030 resulting from climate change‐induced heat stress under the simplifying assumptions that the production technology, location of production, and other factors are held constant. For four climate model scenarios, the results indicate modest heat‐stress‐related production declines by 2030, with the largest declines occurring in the southern states.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and, where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and, where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.

The Environmental Protection Agency is currently gathering data to regulate livestock facilities under the Clean Air Act, legislation that purports to protect public health. To set rational policy, estimates of health externalities associated with livestock farming are necessary. This study uses geographic shifts in the industry to measure the impact of pollution on infant health. The article finds that a doubling of production leads to a 7.4% increase in infant mortality. This finding is robust with respect to the inclusion of multiple fixed and time-varying controls. The mortality increases are driven by elevated levels of respiratory diseases, providing suggestive evidence of an air pollution mechanism. Copyright 2009, Oxford University Press.

United States environmental regulations often vary by operation size, with larger facilities facing more regulatory stringency. However, such legislative structure may have unintended consequences if operations downsize, slow their growth, or enter at a smaller scale in order to avoid regulation. In this study we use a regression‐discontinuity framework and exploit the size threshold of federal and state rules targeting large‐scale livestock operations to examine whether facilities adjust size to avoid regulation. We find statistical evidence of avoidance, primarily by operations entering at sizes just below the threshold.