There has been growing concern about the health effects of agricultural pollutants among the rural populations, who by virtue of living near the sources of these pollutants are among the most exposed. The aim of this thesis was to make use of large national administrative databases to identify possible links between living near sources of agricultural pollutants, namely pesticides used in crops and livestock farming emissions, and health of the Dutch rural population that could point to more specific (groups of) exposures for further confirmatory research. From the Dutch Environmental Longitudinal Study (DUELS), a national census-based cohort, we selected about 4 million subjects living in rural areas for whom we computed the average number of cattle, pigs, chicken, and mink present in 500m, 1000m, 1500m and 2000m around their residences. Using Cox proportional hazards regression and adjusting for potential confounders at individual and neighborhood level, we found evidence that living up to 2000m of pig farms was associated with increased respiratory mortality, namely from chronic lower respiratory diseases. Using the same cohort but restricted to ~3.1 million subjects, we studied the potential effects of living near pesticide-treated crops and cause-specific mortality. We estimated the area of specific crop groups cultivated within buffers of 50m, 100m and 250m around subjects’ residences and the amount of fungicides, herbicides and insecticides used within those buffers. Using the previous statistical approach, we observed overall decreased mortality risks but noted an increased risk for chronic lower respiratory diseases mortality and proximity to maize cultivation. We found no evidence of an association between the amount of pesticides used and cause-specific mortality. Using the Public Health Monitor national survey from 2012, we selected ~217.000 participants who lived in rural areas. As previously, we estimated area of specific crop groups cultivated near participants’ residences and investigated its ...