FoA 283: A Model for Climate-Smart Dairy with Calgren Dairy Fuels

Calgren Renewable Fuels https://www.calgren.com/ 

Maas Energy Works: https://www.maasenergy.com/

California Milk Advisory Board: https://www.realcaliforniamilk.com/ 

Dairy Sustainability Award: https://www.usdairy.com/media/press-releases/2021-dairy-sustainability-awards-winners-10-year-anniversary 

Today’s episode is a great story of collaboration, public-private partnership, innovation, and sustainability. Before I introduce the guests on today’s show, let me set the scene for you a little bit: a group of 15 dairies in the central valley of California are getting paid to turn their cow manure into renewable fuel. Twelve of these dairies are connected via underground pipeline that transports biogas from on-farm digesters to a centralized conditioning facility which processes and markets the fuel. So the dairies not only receive a milk check, they also receive a manure check. All the while they are drastically reducing their own emissions and replacing 3 million gallons of fossil-fuel diesel with near-zero emissions from dairy-sourced renewable compressed natural gas, or CNG. 

This project is a collaboration between a lot of people, including the local dairy farmers, Calgren Dairy Fuels which is the renewable energy company, and Maas Energy Works which makes the digesters. Joining me to talk about this innovative project is Lyle Schlyer, president of Calgren Renewable Fuels, and Daryl Maas, CEO of Maas Energy Works.

I want to recognize that this project was nominated by the California Milk Advisory Board for a U.S. Dairy Sustainability Award. They won the award for their socially responsible, economically viable, and environmentally sound impacts on their community. The California Milk Advisory Board brought this incredible story to my attention and was willing to partner with me on this episode to share it with you. If you’re not familiar, they are an instrumentality of the California Department of Food and Agriculture with a vision of nourishing the world with the wholesome goodness of Real California Milk. They are very proud of the fact that dairy farm families in the state have made tremendous progress in reducing their environmental footprint while producing nutritious, planet-smart dairy products, an d becoming world leaders in sustainable farming. Thank you very much to the California Milk Advisory Board for bringing this story to my attention and for partnering with me on today’s episode.