Monitoring of air pollution in agricultural settings: a systematic review of the literature

Abstract Studies on air quality in rural environments are fundamental to obtain first-hand data for the determination of base emissions of air pollutants, to assess the impact of rural-specific airborne pollutants, to model pollutants dispersion, and to develop proper pollution mitigation technologies. The literature lacks a systematic review based on the evaluation of the techniques and methods used for the sampling/monitoring (S/M) of atmospheric pollutants in agricultural settings, which highlights the shortcomings and the need of future studies in this field. The aim of this work is to review the study design applied for on-field monitoring campaigns of airborne pollutants in rural environments, and to discuss the possible needs and future developments in this field. Results of this literature review, based on the revision of 23 scientific papers, allowed to indicate: (i) the basic characteristics related to the study design that should always be reported; (ii) the main techniques and analyses used in exposure assessment studies conducted in this type of settings; (iii) contextual parameters and descriptors of the S/M site, that should be considered to best support the results obtained from the different studies. Future studies carried out to monitor the airborne pollution in the rural/agriculture field should consider the most important boundary information, to better characterize the S/M site. In addition, the study design could include the use of multiparametric monitors for the contextual measurement of different atmospheric pollutants (as well as meteorological parameters), because of the complex system in which these S/M are performed.