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

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Calgren Renewable Fuels <a href= "https://www.calgren.com/">https://www.calgren.com/</a> </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Maas Energy Works: <a href= "https://www.maasenergy.com/">https://www.maasenergy.com/</a></span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">California Milk Advisory Board: <a href= "https://www.realcaliforniamilk.com/">https://www.realcaliforniamilk.com/</a> </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dairy Sustainability Award: <a href= "https://www.usdairy.com/media/press-releases/2021-dairy-sustainability-awards-winners-10-year-anniversary"> https://www.usdairy.com/media/press-releases/2021-dairy-sustainability-awards-winners-10-year-anniversary</a> </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I want to recognize that this project was