The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s (CDFA) Alternative Manure Management Program (AMMP) awards competitive grants to California dairy and livestock operations for the implementation of technologies and specific manure management practices that result in long-term methane emission reductions and maximize environmental benefits.
Donor Name: California Department of Food and Agriculture
State: California
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 08/28/2023
Size of the Grant: $750,000
Grant Duration: 30 months
Details:
Types of Projects
AMMP Demonstration Projects funds two types of projects:
- AMMP Demonstration Projects – New Technologies and Practices will fund projects that demonstrate to a wide audience innovation in the implementation of diverse manure management practices that reduce methane emissions and maximize environmental co-benefits on California dairy and livestock operations
- AMMP Demonstration Projects – Advancing Practices Farmer-To-Farmer will fund projects that demonstrate through farmer-to-farmer outreach, the manure management practices that reduce methane emissions and maximize environmental co-benefits on California dairy and livestock operations.
Funding Information
- Approximately $20.9 million will be available for the 2023 AMMP, which includes an allocation for technical assistance grants under AB 2377. DDRDP will have approximately $11.4 million available to support digesters that reduce methane emissions from dairy operations.
- CDFA will fund up to 100% of the total project cost with a maximum grant award of $750,000 per project. Matching funds are strongly encouraged.
- The maximum project term is thirty (30) months.
- The grant agreement term for awarded projects is anticipated to begin March 1, 2024 and end August 31, 2026. Grant funds cannot be expended before the start of the grant agreement, or after the completion of the grant term.
Eligible Project Types
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 for methane emission reductions to be achieved through an AMMP project
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Conversion from a flush to scrape manure collection system in conjunction with one of the manure treatment and/or storage practices listed below.
- Manure Treatment and/or Storage Practices:
- 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);
- Composting in aerated vermifiltration system (solids separated by vermifilter are also processed by worms within the vermifilter).
- Manure Treatment and/or Storage Practices:
Eligibility Criteria
- California farmers, ranchers, and California Native American Tribes are eligible to apply. Individuals and business entities receiving grant award funds must be located in California with a physical California business address
- The project site must be located on a commercial California dairy or livestock operation
- 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
- 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)
- Each AMMP project requesting funding must include at least one of the eligible project types listed under Eligible Project Types that reduce baseline methane emissions
- Dairy and livestock operations with existing non-DDRDP funded digesters may apply for AMMP funds to reduce methane emissions from manure not being treated in the digester system
- AMMP funds can only be used to implement management practices that reduce methane from manure and cannot be used to treat manure digestate, i.e., digested manure material resulting from an anaerobic digestion process
- Dairy and livestock operations that do not currently have a digester in place will be prioritized during the AMMP review process.
Program Requirements
- The AMMP will support the adoption of alternative (non-digester) manure management practices on California dairy and livestock operations that result in permanent, annual, and measurable GHG emission reductions
- Recipients must also annually report data to CDFA regarding their manure management practices for five years after the end of the project term and/or the practice becomes operational.
For more information, visit CDFA.
