Dairy farmers to learn about new environmental laws

» February 12, 2007 «

Symposium addresses impact of air-quality and climate-change rules

Change is in the air for California dairy farmers. A symposium scheduled next week will help farmers learn how to cope with, and even benefit from, new efforts to improve air quality and cap greenhouse-gas emissions.

The symposium, titled "Dairy Emissions and Credits: What You Need to Know," will be held Wednesday, Feb. 21, in the Harvest Hall at the Stanislaus Agriculture Center, 3800 Cornucopia Way, Modesto. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. and end at 2 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by the California Farm Bureau Federation, Western United Dairymen and Sustainable Conservation.

One goal of the symposium is to educate dairy farmers about Assembly Bill 32, a new California law that will cap greenhouse-gas emissions from stationary sources, including dairies.

"It's important for farmers to understand the implications of the new law and become familiar with the opportunities to earn credit for the work they do to improve air quality," California Farm Bureau President Doug Mosebar said.

The symposium will include panels on emissions-reduction credits and offsets, and on greenhouse-gas credits. Speakers will include dairymen who have participated in those programs, plus representatives of government agencies and farm organizations. A third panel will include representatives of companies that help farmers work with air-quality and climate-change requirements.

A full agenda for the workshop may be viewed online: www.cfbf.com/dairyworkshop.pdf

Lunch will be provided at the meeting, and the sponsors ask people interested in attending to RSVP with Paul Sousa of Western United Dairymen: 209-527-6453 or psousawud@yahoo.com.

The California Farm Bureau Federation, the state's largest farm organization, works to protect family farms and ranches on behalf of nearly 92,000 members.

Contact: Dave Kranz
Phone: 916/561-5550
news@cfbf.com

Permission for use is granted, however, credit must be made to the California Farm Bureau Federation when reprinting this item.