CDFA’s Alternative Manure Management Program Reaches Milestone of Completed Projects

CDFA’s Alternative Manure Management Program (AMMP) provides financial assistance for the implementation of non-digester manure management practices on California dairy and livestock operations, which will result in reduced emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas (GHG) 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide in its potential to warm the atmosphere.

Eligible practices for funding through AMMP include: pasture-based management; alternative manure treatment and storage (such as compost bedded pack barns); and solid separation or conversion from flush to scrape in conjunction with some form of drying or composting of collected manure.

In March 2021, all 35 projects funded by the AMMP in the 2018 round have been completed. Collectively, these projects will reduce GHG emissions by 296,060 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (MTCO₂e) over the project life of 5 years. Some of the 2018 AMMP recipients include Art Silva Dairy, Den-K Holsteins, Frank Coelho & Sons Dairy, and SBS Ag Dairy.

The AMMP is funded through the California Climate Investments and was first launched in 2017. To date, the program has had four rounds of funding, in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. For all four rounds, 114 incentive projects have been funded with a projected GHG emission reduction of 1.1 million MTCO₂e over 5 years. Sixty-one projects funded in 2019 and 2020 are expected to be completed in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Eighteen projects funded in 2017 were completed by the summer of 2020.

“I am very pleased that we have reached this milestone in the AMMP program,” said CDFA secretary Karen Ross. “California dairy farmers are achieving methane reductions every day, having changed their manure management practices in significant ways. These changes will help our dairy families meet their sustainability goals well into the future.”

Lists of program-level and project-level progress of projects funded through the AMMP are available on the AMMP webpage: https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/AMMP/.

Interested stakeholders and members of the public may sign up to receive AMMP-related updates through the mailing list of the CDFA’s Office of Environmental Farming and Innovation (OEFI), home to CDFA’s numerous Climate Smart Agriculture Incentives Programs in addition to AMMP, such as the Dairy Digester Research and Development Program (DDRDP), State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP) and the Healthy Soils Program (HSP).