Exposure to airborne particulate matter of diameter less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) is associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In agriculture, the practice of tilling generates PM2.5 emissions that can jeopardize human health. In this work, we estimated the annual deaths from CVD and COPD attributable to PM2.5 emissions from corn, soybean, cotton, and wheat tillage in the contiguous United States using data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Emissions Inventory, the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation’s global burden of risk factors study, the US decennial Census, and the US Centers for Disease Control. We developed and implemented a conceptual framework for identifying the optimal subsidy upon accounting for health benefits arising from reducing conventional tillage. We estimated that approximately 1,000 annual deaths from CVD and 300 annual deaths from COPD were attributable to tillage-related PM2.5 emissions; and about 360 annual deaths can be reduced upon a shift from conventional to conservation tillage. We calculated that the optimal per acre subsidy for a change from conventional to conservation tillage for soybean planting in Iowa considering the reduction only in CVD and COPD deaths is 16.3 US dollars per acre. We discussed agricultural policies and on-farm measures that promote conservation tillage and PM2.5 emissions reduction such as subsidies for adopting conservation tillage, carbon capture credits, planting of cover crops, use of windbreaks, use of alternative herbicides, use of herbicide-tolerant crops and protection of the herbicide-tolerance trait in crops.
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