Agriculturally, California is famous for its wine, but the state has led the nation in milk and dairy production for 25 years. Massive production and mounds of manure are making dairy farmers change their ways. Since June is National Dairy Month we take a look at California’s largest agricultural industry.
Industry snapshot
Wisconsin might call itself the America’s Dairyland, but the next time you pour a glass of milk, butter a piece of bread or eat ice cream, think of California. California leads the nation in all those dairy categories and has been the nation’s top dairy producer for 25 years. One in 5 glasses of milk poured in the U.S. came from California.
California has a legacy of dairy developments that goes back to what could have been its first commercial dairy at Point Reyes in 1857.
Today the state’s dairy farms provide more than 400,000 jobs, generated $6.07 billion in cash receipts in 2017 and have an estimated economic impact of $60 billion a year.
In recent years, the glass of milk has been seen as half empty. During California’s drought, the price of corn rose and labor costs went up and hundreds of dairies closed. There were 1,950 dairy farms in 2007, and in 2017 there were 1,331. The state had 20,000 dairy farms in 1950 and about 800,000 cows.
Milk production
Source: USDA
Top 10 milk producing counties
Tulare County produced more than a quarter of the state’s milk.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture keeps updated statistics for every year.
Source: CDFA
Dairy cattle
California leads the nation in dairy cows. The state had an estimated 5.2 million cattle (including beef) in January 2018.
The USDA has updated head counts of cattle on monthly basis.
Source: USDA
Milk and methane
Now that the days of the local dairy around the corner are gone, the work of managing mountains of manure is done far from the city where your favorite latte is made.
In 2014, the state appropriated $12 million from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to reduce methane emissions from dairy and livestock operations. It was the nation’s first voluntary incentive program for the dairy industry to reduce emissions.
The state increased funding to $50 million in 2016, followed by $99 million in 2017. To date, California Department of Food and Agriculture has awarded $56.3 million to 42 projects across the state through the Dairy Digester Research and Development Program and the Alternative Manure Management Program.
Announcement of awards for the $99 million allocation will be made this summer.
Here’s a look at the average dairy cow’s estimated milk and manure production.
Methane from dairy cattle
The California Air Resources Board says 25 percent of the state’s methane emissions are from dairy manure and another 20 percent are from dairy cows belching.
The Air Resources Board wrote a report on methane emissions from dairy in 2017.
Source: California Air Resources Board
Clearing the air
Different types of feed are being used to help decrease methane emissions from belching, but the biggest methane reductions in dairy produced are in managing manure, particularly lagoon storage of flushed manure.
The state’s 2030 goals to reduce dairy cow emissions:
The Air Resources Board has written a proposal for dairy operations to decrease methane emissions with a variety of changes in how it is disposed.
Source: ocregister.com
