Cows in front of a dairy digester in Stanislaus County
By John Holland
A new study praises some of the dairy cows in Stanislaus and Merced counties for doing their part to curb climate change.
It deals with digesters, which use bacteria to turn manure into electricity. On the one hand, this reduces methane, one of the most potent of the gases causing global warming. On another, it reduces the need to generate power from coal or natural gas, which also contribute to the problem.
Digesters have been slow to spread in California’s vast dairy industry, but our area has a couple of notable examples at farms that also are cheese producers. One is at Fiscalini Cheese Co., northwest of Modesto. The other is at Joseph Gallo Farms near Atwater, which sells under the Joseph Farms label.
The study, by the global firm of Ramboll Environ, looked at the cost of various climate projects funded by the California Air Resources Board with money from emitters who do not meet the standards.
The study found that dairy digesters cost an average of $7 per ton of carbon dioxide – or its equivalent in other greenhouse gases – that is kept out of the atmosphere. Other projects ranged from $2 to $1,250 per ton.
“Dairy anaerobic digesters are a proven and highly effective method of reducing greenhouse gases, particularly methane, from agriculture,” said Dawn Chianese, the study’s primary author, in a news release.
“Dairy digesters provide great bang-for-the-buck when compared to other investments,” Executive Director Michael Boccadoro said.