WHEREAS, June is National Dairy Month; and

WHEREAS, California, the nation’s largest farming state, producing more than 400 agricultural commodities, is also the top dairy producing state in the nation, with dairy being California’s top agricultural commodity; and

WHEREAS, California produces and processes about 18 percent of all United States farm milk into a variety of products that both stay local and are shipped out of the state and nation, including butter, milk powders, cheese, ice cream, and whey and milk protein products; and

WHEREAS, California is the country’s leading producer of butter, ice cream, and nonfat dry milk and is the second largest cheese and yogurt producer; and

WHEREAS, Over 250 varieties and styles of cheese are made in the state of California; and

WHEREAS, Milk is an affordable source of 13 essential nutrients, including protein, calcium, and vitamin D; and

WHEREAS, To get the same amount of calcium provided by one 8-ounce glass of milk, a person would have to eat 4.5 servings of broccoli, 16 servings of spinach, or 5.8 servings of whole wheat bread; and

WHEREAS, One in five Californians have uncertain or inconsistent access to food, and dairy products are an effective and affordable source of nutrition to California’s families; and

WHEREAS, To do their part in helping to address this gap, California dairy organizations collectively donated more than 3,600,000 pounds of dairy products to local food banks in 2023; and

WHEREAS, Ninety-nine percent of California dairy farms are family owned, and dairy farming and processing in California collectively represented 151,859 jobs in 2024; and

WHEREAS, California’s dairy industry generates $69.1 billion annually in dairy-related economic activity, including $23.2 billion in direct economic activity; and

WHEREAS, California dairies are leading the way in environmental stewardship and have reduced the carbon footprint of each gallon of milk produced by more than 45% over the past five decades; and

WHEREAS, The amount of water used to produce a gallon of milk in California has decreased by more than 88% over the past 50 years; and

WHEREAS, Forty percent of feed comes from agricultural byproducts in California farm rations, greatly reducing the environmental footprint of California dairies, including byproducts that would otherwise go into the waste stream like spent brewer’s grain, grape pomace, almond hulls, citrus pulp, and cottonseed; and

WHEREAS, In compliance with Senate Bill 1383 (Chapter 395 of the Statutes of 2016), this year, through various strategies and partnerships, the state’s dairy farms will achieve an annual methane emissions reduction of 5,000,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2e); and

WHEREAS, California has 168 dairy digesters operating, with about 70 more projects in development; and

WHEREAS, Digesters capture methane from manure storage and put it to productive use as carbon-negative transportation fuel or for other renewable energy needs, and as projects under development come online, methane from manure will be captured from 270 dairy farms, creating either renewable electricity, renewable natural gas, or hydrogen fuel, with estimated total annual reductions from projects operating to date of 2,650,000 MTCO2e; and

WHEREAS, California’s dairy digester program, the Department of Food and Agriculture’s Dairy Digester Research and Development Program, is responsible for achieving 20 percent of greenhouse gas reductions from all climate programs invested in by the state with just 1.5 percent of total funds awarded; and

WHEREAS, California dairy farms have implemented more than 145 alternative manure management projects, with another 75 projects funded and in development, and these projects include manure separators, compost pack barns, manure scrape and vacuum systems, and other practices that avoid methane creation from manure management operations, with estimated total annual reductions from projects operating to date of 280,500 MTCO2e; and

WHEREAS, The Department of Food and Agriculture’s Alternative Manure Management Program is one of the state’s most cost-effective programs, providing one ton of greenhouse gas reduction for every $67 invested by the state; and

WHEREAS, California dairy farms continue to shrink their environmental footprint by producing more milk with fewer cows, and milk production efficiencies continue to be gained in many ways, including improved animal nutrition, selective breeding, and enhanced animal care and comfort; and

WHEREAS, Overall, while total milk production has remained relatively stable, the number of dairy cows in California has continued to shrink, resulting in far fewer emissions, with estimated total annual reductions achieved between 2013 to 2022, inclusive, of 2,130,000 MTCO2e; now, therefore be it