Environmental Protection Agency
About half a dozen smaller dairyfarms in the Shenandoah Valley will be subject to inspection by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the first half of May, valley dairy operators learned at an April 19 meeting with EPA officials.
Funding will go directly to state’s dairy producers for water quality and manure management.
The state agency that regulates Oregon’s $473 million dairy industry has given kudos this month to three dairy operations that have gone above and beyond the call of duty in protecting water quality.
The High Plains Water District in the Texas panhandle is proposing to restrict water usage to 1.25 acre feet starting January 1, 2012.
In a major court victory for the American Farm Bureau Federation and other farm organizations, a unanimous federal court of appeals has ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency cannot require livestock farmers to apply for Clean Water Act permits unless their farms actually discharge manure into U.S. waters.
Under revised air-quality Rule 4570, California dairies must cut silage emissions.
The program will reduce dairies’ water-quality compliance costs by pooling monitoring efforts.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today commemorated the one year anniversary of an historic agreement to help U.S. dairy producers cut greenhouse gas emissions.
As new Rule 4570 is adopted, dairy families credited for efforts to improve air quality.
Emission reductions roughly equivalent to removing 408,000 cars from California highways
Klobuchar’s bill would exempt dairies from regulations requiring prevention plans for milk spills.
Pennsylvania State University researchers are experimenting with sophisticated diets to reduce harmful pollutants that emerge from, ahem, both ends of the cow.
The Federation of Animal Science Societies (FASS) has analyzed the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production’s report “Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America” as well as the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA) response to the report. After a review by FASS’ Scientific Advisory Committees, FASS agrees with AVMA that there are significant flaws in the Pew report.
Dairy Today’s Dollars and Sense contributors discuss their farms’ approach to reducing carbon footprints.
USDA announced today it was extending the comment period for the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on Roundup Ready alfalfa by 15 days to March 3.
A Cargill-built and -operated anaerobic digester on the Bettencourt Dairy B6 Farm in Jerome, Idaho, is converting manure from the farm’s 6,000 cows into 1 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a month.
A 21-million-gallon capacity dairy waste lagoon has failed, releasing an unknown quantity of manure into farm fields near the town of Snohomish, Wash.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations pegs the global dairy sector contribution to greenhouse gas emissions (GHC) at 2.7%. If you add in the meat production of the sector, the contribution climbs to 4%.
Washington State’s Snohomish River just downstream from French Slough is once again meeting state water quality standards for fecal coliform and dissolved oxygen, according to Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) testing. French Slough was directly impacted by a large manure spill last week and continues to show evidence of water quality problems.
In New Mexico, where groundwater is the major source of water for humans as well as farms, the state’s dairy industry has been negotiating with the Environment Department to determine the specifics of new water-quality regulations.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Citizens’ Board voted unanimously yesterday to pull the permit of Excel Dairy, Thief River Falls, Minn.
EPA and USDA’s enhanced collaboration will provide up to $3.9 million over the next five years to help the farms overcome obstacles preventing them from recovering and using biogas.
Dairy producers in California’s Central Valley who have identified deficiencies in their nutrient management infrastructure or need other improvements can apply for funds to address those issues under the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP).