California is on track to meet the world’s first methane reduction goal thanks to dairy digesters. Cutting emissions for the short-lived climate pollutant may be the cheapest and quickest way to reach climate neutrality, buying time for reining in the more stubborn carbon emissions.
While the industry and experts have spent years attempting to assure state policymakers of the progress, they now have a new weapon in their outreach arsenal. Widespread farmer protests in Europe are demonstrating that California’s collaborative carrot approach is much more effective than the regulatory stick.
That point dominated the discussion at the annual California Dairy Sustainability Summit held at UC Davis last week.
“What we're doing to make that work is a voluntary, incentive-based approach,” explained Frank Mitloehner, an animal science professor and air quality specialist at UC Davis. “That's what I call the carrot approach, which is in sharp contrast to the rules, regulations, fines, taxes—which we can see in other parts of the world don't work so well.”
Frank Mitloehner, left, and John Tauzel (photo: Brad Hooker)While California was the first government to establish a methane goal, with Senate Bill 1383 in 2016, Mitloehner pointed out that the target is also one of the world’s most ambitious. The state aims to reduce emissions 40% below 2013 levels by 2030, amounting to about 7.3 million metric tons. In terms of carbon dioxide reductions, it would be the equivalent of taking 750,000 cars off the road, according to Dairy Cares Executive Director Michael Boccadoro.
Mitloehner and his colleagues have calculated the state will likely surpass the goal and by as much as three million metric tons—achieving nearly 150% of the reductions target.
Despite the promising results from dairy digesters in capturing manure methane, Mitloehner cautioned that there is no silver bullet and that a myopic focus on methane alone is “ill-advised.” He noted that researchers and policymakers must also consider the environmental footprint for air, water and other sustainability issues, as well as animal welfare.
Feed additives for reducing enteric methane will play a critical role once FDA clears the first products for the commercial market. In a later talk, Elanco Animal Health President and CEO Jeff Simmons shared that his company’s product is likely to receive FDA approval within the next three months.
Adding to Mitloehner’s points on a comprehensive toolkit approach, John Tauzel, senior director for global agriculture methane at the Environmental Defense Fund, stressed that farmers must drive the change and co-create solutions with community members. In developing countries, which account for 80% of global dairy emissions, Tauzel has pushed for “triple win solutions.” Feeding cows better, for example, can lead to emissions reductions while improving nutrition security and resiliency.
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Boccadoro noted that increased production efficiency “is our friend,” since it reduces greenhouse gases along with the use of land, water, energy, fossil fuels, fertilizers and pesticides. He emphasized that incentive dollars are a critical component in the toolkit and saluted the state for stepping up to meet the challenge by investing hundreds of millions into grants, adding to federal USDA incentives.
Mitloehner believed that without incentives the changes would not happen, since farmers are businesspeople and someone has to shoulder the cost. In other parts of the world, environmental progress has not reached California’s level because of the lack of incentives—and the cane does not work as well as the carrot, he surmised.
“In the U.S., we're offering real carrots,” added Mary Ledman, global dairy strategist at Rabobank.
New Zealand and Denmark, on the other hand, are planning to levy carbon taxes on farmers if they fail to meet rigid methane reduction deadlines. European countries are “taking from Peter to pay Paul” by rewarding producers for their climate achievements through fees paid by the producers who do not meet the goals. Those dairy farmers are waking up to a steady stream of negative headlines about their industry, creating a sense of uncertainty over their future and leading to declines in on-farm climate investments, she explained.
While the European Union’s aggressive Farm to Fork strategy has fueled protests across the continent, Ledman said Dutch farmers have taken to the streets over water quality regulations passed in 2012 to limit nitrate and phosphate contamination. Over the same period, California has taken a more collaborative pathway to reducing nitrate and salinity pollution, eventually launching a program that provides farmers a 35-year timeline to adapt and innovate.
“We’ve bought ourselves enough time to work on these issues,” said Patrick Pulupa, executive officer of the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, in a separate presentation. “There does not have to be pressure on the industry to just shut down.”
Ledman commended the state for being a trailblazer with such programs, putting itself on the cutting edge of policy and research.
“What California has done today is going to have an impact—not just in this state, in the United States, North America or the Americas—but worldwide,” said Ledman. “The ripple effect is going to be enormous.”
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