The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is currently accepting applications for the Alternative Manure Management Program (AMMP) through May 22, 2018. AMMP provides grants to dairy and livestock producers to significantly reduce methane emissions through adopting drier manure-handling practices that minimize or eliminate the collection of manure in anaerobic piles or lagoons. Eligible practices include:
- pasture-based dairying
- composting manure
- conversion of flush to scrape to remove manure from barns
- solid separation
- solar drying
- spreading manure on pasture
- and more
CDFA expects to allocate $19-$33 million toward AMMP projects for this round of applications, granting up to $750,000 per application. See the CDFA program page for application details.
Dairy operations account for 80 percent of the state’s methane emissions. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is between 30 and 70 times more potent than carbon dioxide, so rapidly curbing methane emissions can make significant, long-term positive impacts on our climate.
CalCAN has championed AMMP as a critical tool for dairies of various scales to reduce their methane emissions. The first round of AMMP awards, funding 17 projects in seven counties, are expected to reduce methane emissions equivalent to more than 367,000 metric tons CO2e over 5 years, similar to removing more than 78,000 cars from the road for one year. Methane digesters, the state’s sole focus for manure methane reduction before AMMP, are a strategy only applicable to large dairy operations with the largest volumes of concentrated onsite manure.
Resources are available to assist producers in applying. Find the CalCAN AMMP application fact sheet here.
CDFA-organized Application Assistance Workshops
Eureka – Monday, April 9
Santa Rosa – Tuesday, April 10
Modesto* – Monday, April 16
*This meeting will also be available as a webinar for remote attendees. Register here.
For workshop location and timing information and to register, visit the CDFA’s webpage here. Space is limited and CDFA requests that attendees register in advance.
There will also be a webinar organized by the CDFA on Tuesday, April 17, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Register here.
In addition to AMMP, the state will also fund the installation of digesters on dairy operations. More on that program can be found here.
