Principal environmental engineer Alan Skerman said bad smells associated with rural industries have been a problem for as long as humans had been farming.

"Livestock odour problems are being tackled in practical ways through a project being developed by the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F) in collaboration with the Rural Research and Development Corporation’s Methane to Markets Program," Mr Skerman said.

"The research aims to provide real odour reductions and additionally it may well end up delivering significant environmental benefits."

Mr Skerman is trialling an impermeable cover for piggery effluent ponds and similar sites.

"This cover will trap methane gas emissions for reuse in heating piggeries or the gas could be burnt to reduce emissions and subsequent greenhouse effects by a factor of 25," Mr Skerman said.

"It would also build on proven odour reduction provided by impermeable pond covers to reduce odours by as much as 50pc; as demonstrated in a previous DPI&F project co-funded by Australian Pork Limited.

"If successful, this will be another step closer towards Australia achieving its Kyoto gas emission targets."

Mr Skerman said a similar project had confirmed that airborne bacteria from pig and poultry production facilities was not found more than 10 metres from production sheds.

"This is very welcome news from a human health point of view," Mr Skerman said.

"The research shows that waste from piggeries and poultry production facilities can be managed to minimise and actually kill micro-organisms produced in this environment.

"With correct management practices, any spread of these pathogens to crops and the surrounding environment can be managed.

"However from a personal safety point of view, it is still recommended that people wash their fruit and vegetables to avoid any problems from contamination anywhere along the production, processing and point of sale pipeline."