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The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is now accepting applications for the Dairy Digester Research & Development and the Alternative Manure Management Programs. Grant applications are due May 9, 2022.

CDFA’s dairy methane reduction programs provide financial assistance for the installation of dairy digesters and implementation of non-digester-based manure management practices that result in long-term methane emissions reductions and maximize environmental co-benefits on commercial dairy and livestock operations in California. These programs are funded through a $32 million appropriation from the California State Budget, authorized by the Budget Act of 2021.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture's (CDFA) Dairy Digester Research and Development Program (DDRDP), awards competitive grants to California dairy operations and digester developers for the implementation of dairy digesters that result in long-term methane emission reductions on California dairies and minimize or mitigate adverse environmental impacts.

Eligibility: The project site must be located on a commercial California dairy operation. Individuals and/or entities receiving grant award funds must be located in California with a physical California business address.

A dairy operation is defined as an entity that operates a dairy herd, which produces milk or cream commercially, and whose bulk milk or bulk cream is received or handled by any distributor, manufacturer, or any nonprofit cooperative association of dairy producers. Existing milk producers, including Federal and California Recognized Native American Indian Tribes, and dairy digester developers are eligible for this program.

What are the program requirements? The DDRDP will support the implementation of dairy digester projects on California dairy operations that result in permanent, annual, and measurable GHG emission reductions.

Projects must use methane for energy production or transportation fuel (e.g., including but not limited to renewable natural gas). Projects that propose flaring as the sole end-use for biogas will not be eligible for funding. Projects must either convert biomethane to renewable electricity or fuel (to use on-site or inject into an existing pipeline), or for the utilization of energy at a neighboring facility.

At least 80% dry weight of the feedstock for anaerobic digestion must be manure from dairy livestock. Other substrates, such as dairy processing wastes including whey, or other agricultural waste, can be added to the feedstock to up to 20% dry weight. Applicants must provide details regarding the nature and sources of all co-substrates.

Grant recipients will be required to submit quarterly progress reports to CDFA explaining in detail the project’s progress. Recipients must also report their annual GHG emissions reduction data to CDFA for five years after the end of the project term and/or the digester becomes operational.

Funding Levels: CDFA will fund up to 50% of the total project cost with a maximum grant award of $1.6 million per project.

Cost Share: DDRDP requires a 50 percent match, with only 25 percent allowed in in-kind contributions.

The DDRDP full Request for Applications can be found here.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture's (CDFA) Alternative Manure Management Program (AMMP) awards competitive grants to California dairy and livestock operations for technologies and specific management practices that result in long-term methane emission reductions and maximize environmental benefits.

Eligibility: The project site must be located on a commercial California dairy or livestock operation. Individuals receiving grant award funds must be located in California with a physical California business address.

• A dairy operation is defined as an entity that operates a dairy herd, which produces milk or cream commercially, and whose bulk milk or bulk cream is received or handled by any distributor, manufacturer, or any nonprofit cooperative association of dairy producers.
• A livestock operation is defined as an entity raising farm animals such as cattle, poultry, goats, sheep, swine and horses.

What are the program requirements? AMMP supports several project types for which there are methods to quantify greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions. To be eligible, the current baseline manure management practices must include the anaerobic decomposition of volatile solids stored in a lagoon or other predominantly liquid anaerobic environment. Methane is produced when volatile manure solids are stored in wet, anaerobic conditions; consequently, conditions that lead to methane production must currently exist at a dairy or livestock operation in order for methane emission reductions to be achieved through an AMMP project.

While solid separation or conversion from flush to dry scrape manure collection can be a critical component an AMMP project, these practices are not considered to be stand-alone projects because they relate only to how manure is separated or collected. In order to calculate GHG emissions and emission reductions, it is also necessary to identify how the separated or collected manure volatile solids will be treated and/or stored (e.g., open solar drying, composting in vessel). Storage or further treatment will always take place with separated or collected solids, and applicants are required to identify what this will be. The storage or further treatment of the collected solids produces methane to varying degrees, as determined by the Methane Conversion Factor (MCF) for each practice. Applicants should use the definitions provided to determine which practice most closely describes how they will manage separated or scraped manure volatile solids. If an applicant’s treatment/storage practices do not exactly match the definition of a listed practice, they will identify the most-closely related practice.

1. Pasture-based management including (i) conversion of a non-pasture dairy or livestock operation to pasture-based management and/or (ii) increasing the amount of time livestock spend at pasture at an existing pasture operation. Note: All pasture-based management projects must currently manage/store some manure in anaerobic conditions and introduce new practices that reduce the quantity of manure managed under such conditions.
2. Alternative manure treatment and storage practices including:
   • Installation of a compost bedded pack barn that composts manure in situ. Applicants are strongly encouraged to evaluate and incorporate best practices1 for design and management of compost bedded pack barns to ensure estimated GHG reductions will be achieved by the project.
   • Installation of slatted floor pit storage manure collection that must be cleaned out at least monthly.
3. Solid separation of manure solids prior to entry into a wet/anaerobic environment (e.g., lagoon, settling pond, settling basin) at a dairy or livestock operation in conjunction with one of the manure treatment and/or storage practices listed below. Eligible solid separation technologies include:
   • Weeping Wall (system must have a minimum of at least two cells)
   • Stationary Screen
   • Vibrating Screen
   • Screw Press
   • Centrifuge
   • Roller Drum
   • Belt Press/Screen
   • Advanced solid-liquid separation assisted by flocculants and/or bead filters. This practice must be implemented in conjunction with an existing or new primary mechanical separator.
   • Vermifiltration. This practice must be implemented in conjunction with an existing or new primary mechanical separator. Note: Either the installation of a new solid separation system at a dairy or livestock operation that does not currently employ solid separation, or the installation of a new solid separation system with significantly higher separation efficiency than the existing solid separation technology may be eligible.
4. Conversion from a flush to scrape manure collection system in conjunction with one of the manure treatment and/or storage practices listed below.
   • Open solar drying (manure is dried in a paved or unpaved open confinement area without any significant vegetative cover where accumulating manure may be removed periodically);
   • Closed solar drying (drying of manure in enclosed environment);
   • Forced evaporation with natural-gas fueled dryers;
   • Daily spread (manure is routinely removed from a confinement facility and is applied to cropland or pasture within 24 hours of excretion);
   • Solid Storage (storage of manure, typically for a period of several months, in unconfined piles or stacks);
   • Composting in vessel (composting in an enclosed vessel, with forced aeration and continuous mixing);
   • Composting in aerated static pile (composting in piles with forced aeration but no mixing);
   • Composting in intensive windrows (with regular turning for mixing and aeration);
   • Composting in passive windrows (with infrequent turning for mixing and aeration).

An applicant may submit multiple grant applications; however, each grant application must represent an individual project at a unique project site (i.e., dairy or livestock operation)

Funding Levels: CDFA will make approximately $12.2 million (40% of $30.4 million) available for the AMMP.

Match:  Cost share, including matching funds and in-kind contributions, is not required; however, cost share is encouraged and may serve as evidence to demonstrate industry commitment to, or support for, the project.

The AMMP full Request for Applications can be found here.

For more information on these grants or how to apply with Morrison's assistance, please contact the Morrison Grants Team by email at grants@morrisonco.net or call us at 530-893-4764.