California Department of Food and Agriculture
Supported by a $565,470 grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Alternative Manure Management Program, Paul Danbom of Brindeiro & Danbom Dairy Farms in Turlock took a significant step towards improving the efficiency of his dairy operation and installed a new solid separation system. Instead of flushed manure being discharged directly into a settling pond and storage lagoon system, it is now pumped through a separator capable of capturing a large portion of manure solids, keeping that organic material from entering and decomposing in a liquid environment where it would produce methane.
Rialto Bioenergy Facility, LLC (Rialto) received a $4 million grant to fund the installation of an anaerobic digester and a freezer to salvage food that would otherwise go to the landfill. These will both be important to the operational success of Rialto’s new Southern California facility, which is expected to recycle 300,000 tons of organic waste from the region annually.
One of the most advanced composting operations in California is scaling up its operations in Fresno County. Early in 2017, Mid Valley Disposal is opening its new 10-acre, 68,000 square foot composting facility in Kerman, California. In addition to creating 47 new jobs in California’s agricultural heartland, the project serves as a model of sustainability in California’s innovative fight against climate change.
Project Clean Air, Inc., in collaboration with several partners, is implementing the San Joaquin Valley Electric Tractor Development and Demonstration project. Supported by $1.5 million in California Climate Investments funding, the project’s goals are to design, customize, develop, and test the first all‑electric agriculture tractors with in-field mobile charging supporting electric Class 6 trucks in California. By demonstrating the functionality of this fleet of electric vehicles, this project will help create a market for electric agricultural and freight equipment.
