David Ekstrom Air pollution is the largest environmental mortality risk in the United States, responsible for 100,000 premature deaths annually, and one-fifth of those deaths are linked to agriculture, said research published by the National Academy of Sciences on Monday. Scientists from five universities noted in their study that air quality is largely ignored in discussions of the health and environmental impacts of food. “Agricultural production in the United States results in 17,900 annual air quality-related deaths, 15,900 of which are from food production,” said the researchers. “Of those, 80% are attributable to animal-based foods, both directly from animal production and indirectly from growing animal feed.”