On August 22, 2024, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) held a workshop on the dairy sector in Fresno, CA. The workshop fulfilled a commitment made by CARB and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) in their joint denial of Climate Action California’s request to directly regulate dairy operations (see our article for more background).

During the workshop, CARB staff unveiled the California Dairy Digester Database (CADD), a new comprehensive data and analysis tool to better track dairy operations, herd sizes, and other metrics. CADD includes publicly available data from 2012 to 2022 on the size of cattle herds and digester projects at California dairies. The data is sourced from local, state, and federal agencies and contains facility-level data that is cross-verified with other databases for accuracy. CADD covers nearly every dairy farm in California, providing a extensive view of the industry.

The key takeaway from the CADD presentation was the conclusion that there hasn’t been “…any relationship between the installation of digesters and dairy growth rates,” confirming the position of CRTA, DairyCares and others . Environmental groups present criticized the model and dismissed its conclusions.

The workshop was well attended by CARB Board Members and high-level CARB staff, dairy families and community partners, environmental justice advocates, and local officials and staff. Both local environmentalists and the dairy community had an hour each to provide testimony. The testimony from the dairy families was particularly compelling , highlighting their operations, family legacies, and community commitments. Public comments were fairly balanced. Several state officials sent staff to read supportive comments about local dairies into the record.

You can find all the materials from the workshop here.