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The California Dairy Research Foundation (CDRF) and the Department of Food and Agriculture's (CDFA) Office of Environmental Farming and Innovation have announced the allocation of $17.97 million in grant funding through the 'Dairy Plus Program'. The funding will support 15 California dairy farm projects, aligning with corresponding projects under the 'Alternative Manure Management Program' and the 'Dairy Digester Research and Development Program'. The 'Dairy Plus Program' focuses on incentivising projects to increase dry handling and the storage of manure to reduce methane production or to capture methane through digesters. In addition, the programme aims to improve nutrient management and water quality outcomes. 'Dairy Plus Program' incentive funds are set to facilitate the implementation of technologies aimed at reducing methane emissions and improving groundwater protection in California dairies through full-scale projects. The funded projects include vermifiltration (manure wastewater filtration using worm beds), advanced solid separation with the assistance of flocculants (coagulating fine manure solids for separation from liquid) and weeping walls (non-mechanical separation of manure solids from water). University of California researchers will assess the practices to measure emission reductions and improvements in water quality outcomes. Financial support for the 'Dairy Plus Program' is provided by CDRF in collaboration with CDFA, as part of a larger 'Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities' grant awarded to CDRF by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). This year's 'Dairy Plus Program' recipients are expected to decrease annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by a total of 148,451 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents. Denise Mullinax, executive director of CDRF, said: "The California Dairy Research Foundation is very pleased to see the award of our first round of projects in the 'Dairy Plus Program'. We are excited for the projects to get started and to know that California dairy farms will soon be making even greater progress in environmental sustainability—reducing GHG emissions and also improving nitrogen management."

All announced awards are subject to dairy farmers completing a pre-project consultation and meeting federal requirements.