California dairy farmers could soon have greater access to the state’s Alternative Manure Management Program – if state assemblymember Damon Connolly gets his wishes.
“California dairy farmers are struggling to survive, let alone adopt new strategies to reduce methane emissions,” said Connolly, a Democrat who represents the state’s 12th district. The bill, he says, will help farmers transition to more sustainable practices.
The Alternative Manure Management Program has awarded $113 million to 172 projects since 2017, and provides up to $750,000 to aid in the implementation of practices proven to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from manure, such as composting manure, or other methods of processing. More than one third of dairy farms in counties represented by Connolly applied for state grants to fund such project, but according to Connolly, several were unable to access the program due to lack of funding.
Since the launch of the program, 14 projects in the two counties received a total of $8 million, with funded projects estimated to cut 40,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. Statewide, an estimated 1.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions hav been reduced over five years, according to state stats.
His new bill includes measures to make the permitting process easier to award grants to eligible projects. It may be reviewed by the assembly on March 21.
