CDFA Awards $4.1 Million for Climate-Smart Dairy and Livestock Research Projects

Jun 08, 2023

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) today announced the award of $4.1 million in grant funding to three research projects as part of the California Livestock Methane Measurement, Mitigation, and Thriving Environments Research Grant Program (CLIM³ATE-RP), funded by Budget Act of 2021 (SB 170, Chapter 240).

The research projects’ goals are threefold:
1. Verify the greenhouse gas and environmental co-benefits of climate-smart practices on California dairies
2. Evaluate alternative methane mitigation strategies, including those that address enteric methane
3. Advance manure recycling and innovative products development.

“This funding will help ensure that California continues to see emissions benefits from ongoing projects and achieve additional reductions from new practices that address enteric methane and turn manure into useful products,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “We are excited about these proposals from our grantees and look forward to seeing their innovative work.”

To verify the greenhouse gas and environmental co-benefits of climate-smart practices on California dairies, CDFA awarded $1.6 Million dollars to Bubbleology Research International for the project titled, “Evaluating the New, Smart, Climate-Friendly California Dairy: Measuring the Climate and Environmental Air Emissions Footprints of Improved Manure Management Practices.” This project aims to improve CDFA’s ability to assess the benefits and co-benefits of the Department’s greenhouse gas reduction incentive programs through more comprehensive greenhouse gas and air quality data from the dairy industry. The project will assemble this new data using a unique mobile air quality lab, airborne remote sensing, and data mining.

To evaluate enteric methane mitigation strategies, CDFA awarded $500,000 dollars to Mooteric LLC for a project titled, “Feeding Seaweed to Accelerate Enteric Methane Emissions Reductions in Central Valley Dairies.” This project aims to conduct on-farm feeding trials to verify the methane-mitigating benefits of seaweed-based feed additives within the regular feed rations of Central Valley dairy cows.

To advance manure recycling and innovative products development, CDFA awarded $2 Million dollars to FYTO for a project titled, “Aquatic Crop Production as a Nutrient-to-Feed Solution for California Dairies”. This project will demonstrate the installation of a commercial-scale, automated aquatic crop farm in Modesto, CA. When complete, the demonstration project will efficiently recycle manure effluents into valuable agricultural inputs. FYTO, academic, and dairy industry partners will jointly validate the environmental impact, economic feasibility, and product efficacy of aquatic crops grown on different effluent types as a high-protein dairy feed ingredient.

A list of awarded projects and additional information about this program can be found at https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/research/.

Source : ca.gov

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.