Excess manure nutrients transported off livestock farms can produce adverse environmental and health effects. Subsurface nitrate attenuation is a set of ecosystem services that livestock farms can harness to reduce their nitrate emissions. However, the capacity of the subsurface environment to attenuate nitrates is commonly either neglected or considered as exogenous to farm management and policymaking. This study develops an integrated model for evaluating the role of nitrate attenuation in reducing nitrate emissions from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and conducts a case study to explore policies that can encourage farmers to take advantage of this role. Four main conclusions arise. First, it is imperative to use integrated dynamic modeling to explore the best strategies and policies for managing nitrate emissions from CAFOs. Second, nitrate attenuation can play a significant role in reducing nitrate emissions from CAFOs. Third, to promote CAFOs to enhance nitrate attenuation for emission reduction, emission-based policies are preferred over input-based policies, in terms of both the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of the policies. Lastly, it is important for a policy design to consider the scales of pollution and to target emissions on a broader scale if possible.

从畜牧场运出的过量粪便养分会对环境和健康产生不利影响。地下硝酸盐衰减是一系列生态系统服务，畜牧场可以利用这些服务来减少硝酸盐排放。然而，地下环境减少硝酸盐的能力通常被忽视或被认为是农场管理和决策的外源性。本研究开发了一个综合模型，用于评估硝酸盐衰减在减少集中式动物饲养操作 (CAFO) 中硝酸盐排放方面的作用，并进行案例研究以探索鼓励农民利用这一作用的政策。得出四个主要结论。首先，必须使用综合动态模型来探索管理 CAFO 硝酸盐排放的最佳策略和政策。其次，硝酸盐衰减可以在减少 CAFO 的硝酸盐排放方面发挥重要作用。第三，为促进CAFOs加强硝酸盐减排减排，无论是从政策的效果还是成本效益上，排放型政策都优于投入型政策。最后，政策设计必须考虑污染的规模，并尽可能在更广泛的范围内设定排放目标。