California Ag Network

Tag: CDRF

  • California Dairy Sustainability Summit Heading to Visalia March 2025

    The California Dairy Sustainability Summit organizing committee have announced a new, farmer-focused event that will take place on March 25, 2025, at the Visalia Convention Center in Visalia, Calif. This added event will focus on equipping California dairy families and employees with information to further enhance and future-proof farming operations. The one-day conference and tradeshow will promote innovative, practical, and workable approaches to advance environmental and economic sustainability, enabling California’s family dairies to continue producing nutritious milk and dairy foods for local and global communities.

    The Farm Focus summit will host timely discussions as the California dairy sector is on track to achieve climate neutrality by as early as 2027. In addition to world-leading progress in methane reduction, the state’s dairy farmers are advancing in clean, renewable energy, water conservation and protection, animal health and comfort, soil health, community nutrition programming, and more. Speakers will highlight the importance of California dairy’s leadership and the technologies, strategies, and incentive programs helping farmers navigate challenges and tap into opportunities.

    “California dairy farmers are world leaders in planet-smart dairy farming. The 2025 summit is designed to help them along this ongoing journey,” said Charles “Chuck” Ahlem, Hilmar dairy farmer and board member for several of the hosting organizations.

    Held biennially since 2018, the California Dairy Sustainability Summit is co-hosted by Dairy Cares, California Dairy Research Foundation, California Milk Advisory Board, California Dairy Quality Assurance Program, and the Dairy Council of California. The 2025 Farm Focus will kick off with dynamic discussions among leaders from the dairy industry and its major customers. Interactive breakout sessions will allow attendees to dive deep into understanding the latest on-farm sustainability strategies. It will also be the first version of the summit to include an in-person Expo Hall since 2018. Attendees will explore solution provider booths and academic research posters, and will enjoy valuable networking opportunities.

    “We are proud to be on the leading edge of sustainable dairy farming,” said Tony Louters, Merced dairy farmer and chair of the California Milk Advisory Board. “There are a lot of options for producers to consider as we work to make our operations even more sustainable. The 2025 Summit will be an important opportunity to explore those options, from what may already be tried and true practices for some, to the most cutting-edge pilot projects. Given the unique nature of each of our farms and the multiple environmental goals we are working toward, there is a lot to think about. We look forward to learning from experts and one another as we plan for the future of our family farms.”

    The 2025 summit will engage dairy farmers, employees, and allied industry members—helping all navigate the rapid pace of California’s progressive policies, the new requirements on the horizon, and the innovative practices being deployed to further shrink dairy’s environmental footprint. Speakers will include dairy farmers highlighting the technologies, products, and strategies they use to boost sustainability through management efficiency, animal health and nutrition, breeding strategies, manure management, enteric methane mitigation, and more. Emphasis will be placed on successful local, state, and federal incentive programs and their key role as the industry continues to ramp up its own investments in innovation.

    The summit’s mission is to promote education and collaboration for further advancing planet-smart dairy farm practices and to recognize and enhance dairy’s valuable role in sustainable, healthy, and equitable food systems. The 2025 summit is organized in partnership with JCS Marketing, Inc., a full-service agriculture marketing firm operating in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley. More information about the event program and sponsor opportunities will be announced soon. To learn more or to subscribe for updates, visit www.cadairysummit.com.

    • Dairy Cares is a statewide coalition with a mission to ensure the long-term sustainability of California’s dairy farm families through strong environmental stewardship and responsible animal care.
    • The California Dairy Research Foundation (CDRF) is an independent non-profit organization that leads and delivers research and science-based programs to support an innovative and sustainable California dairy industry.
    • For more 25 years, the award-winning California Dairy Quality Assurance Program(CDQAP) has worked as a partnership between the dairy industry, academia, and others to provide science-based education and third-party certifications, promoting the health of consumers, the environment, and the health and welfare of dairy animals.
    • The California Milk Advisory Board, an instrumentality of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, is funded by the state’s dairy farm families who lead the nation in sustainable dairy farming practices. With a vision to nourish the world with the wholesome goodness of Real California Milk, the CMAB’s programs focus on increasing demand for California’s sustainable dairy products in the state, across the U.S. and around the world.
    •  Dairy Council of California is a nutrition organization working together with champions to elevate the health of children and communities through lifelong healthy eating patterns. Focusing on education and advocacy, dairy ag literacy, and collaboration, we advance the health benefits of milk and dairy foods as part of the solution to achieving nutrition security and sustainable food systems.

  • Dairy and Almond Groups Partner on Healthy Soils Research

    UC Davis researchers are evaluating the use of pelletized compost made from dairy manure and almond tree twigs, to create safe, pathogen-free, value-added amendments to boost soil health.

    Building healthy soils has tremendous benefits. Increasing the amount of organic matter within the soil can improve water retention and protection, reduce erosion, sequester carbon, and improve crop yields. Increasing water scarcity and severe drought conditions make boosting soil resilience an even greater priority for California. Researchers are exploring how the environmental benefits of healthy soils initiatives can extend even further when readily available agricultural resources are used in regenerative ways.

    A team of UC Davis researchers, led by Dr. Ruihong Zhang, has recycled dairy manure and almond twig waste into a nutrient-rich, safe, organic soil amendment. The new product was created and applied, and its effects continue to be studied. The idea is that the woody material can capture nutrients in the manure and slowly release them, as needed, into the soil. Because the product is also pelletized, it can be applied to croplands and orchards with standard farm equipment. Ultimately, the researchers hope to create a new model for using recycled agricultural resources to sequester carbon and provide benefits to the soil, crops, and the environment.

    The partnership was a natural fit, as the Central Valley is home to many neighboring dairy farms and almond orchards, which have a long history of collaboration. Dairies are already major consumers of almond co-products, including hulls (used as a highly nutritious feed ingredient) and shells (used as a bedding material). With a goal of achieving zero waste by 2025, the California almond community has been actively investigating a wide variety of ways to utilize woody biomass, including twigs, pruned branches, and tree removals. Meanwhile, the dairy community has been exploring ways to expand use of manure nutrients across California’s diverse agricultural landscape.

    “Creating valuable manure-based soil amendments is an area that the dairy sector has been focusing on, but there are some challenges,” said Denise Mullinax, Executive Director of the California Dairy Research Foundation (CDRF). “We know that farmers want a soil amendment with a consistent and reliable nutrient profile. It also needs to be easy to transport and apply. That’s why we are thrilled to support this team of esteemed researchers and to partner with the almond industry on this project. Together, we’re piloting a new avenue to enhance the benefits of both manure and woody biomass.”

    The initial project was funded by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA)’s Healthy Soils Program. As the project scope grew, the researchers were awarded additional funding from the demonstration category of CDFA’s Alternative Manure Management Program. With supplemental support from the CDRF and the Almond Board of California, the research project developed to include a team of more than 20 individuals—including researchers, farmers, and industry collaborators—contributing throughout a three-year timeframe. The project includes two seasons of creating soil amendments and applying them to the orchard, and three years of studying effects on soil health, emissions, tree health, and crop yield, while ensuring food safety.

    Using composted manure from Wickstrom Dairies, the study will shine a light for future research on expanding and improving manure utilization. Like many California dairies, the farm uses a separator system to remove solids from liquid manure streams. The solids are then sun dried in rows that are turned over periodically, as a form of composting. Dried manure solids are traditionally used for bedding or are applied to dairy forage fields. For this study, a portion of the finer manure solids were co-composted with twigs from almond production and then ran through a pelletizer. Pelletizing the compost is intended to provide a more consistent blend, while creating an easy-to-use product. The pelletized compost product has now been applied to the pilot orchard for two consecutive seasons. Four treatments were used to examine differences in manure-only verses manure-twig and pelletized versus non-pelletized compost products.

    “We look forward to seeing the final results,” said Mullinax. “Dr. Zhang and her team are demonstrating that it’s possible to make a pelletized product that is safe and easy to use, while fully assessing the environmental benefits. It’s projects like this that will pave the way for implementing advanced nutrient management on a larger scale, greatly enhancing soil health and further improving water conservation and protection.”

    The research team highlighted the project by providing a virtual field day, and they plan to host another outreach event this fall. Research is scheduled to conclude in March 2022. However, longer-term effects on soil health will continue to be studied. And the final report will only be the beginning of more learnings to come.

    Potential research areas to be explored next include applications on different kinds of crops, comparing a pelletized versus granulated product, and using varying types of dairy manure solids (from different types of separators, settling basins, and lagoon solids). Additionally, the use of infrared technology versus composting will be explored prior to pelletization or granulation. All options will also need to be assessed for cost-effectiveness and potential scalability.

    The manure-twig project is part of a broader, collaborative effort to expand manure’s role in healthy soils. California dairy farmers will continue to work with researchers, state officials, and other agricultural professionals to find more ways to maximize manure’s role in building healthy soils and protecting our air, water, and climate. The possibilities for sustainable solutions are bright when farmers and scientists come together to make new use of existing resources and technologies.

    California dairy farmers will continue partnering to help make an underutilized resource an important part of a healthy-soil future.

    — By Dairy Cares