Dairy Farms’ Expansion Plan Worries California Families Who Once Had a ‘Little Piece of Heaven’

July 11, 2026

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by Steven Rodas (Inside Climate News) The battle in the Central Valley is just one of many happening against dairy farms and new manure digester projects in the state. Farmers say they are trying to be better neighbors.

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One is Hillcrest Dairy, a decades-old farm in Le Grand, next door to Planada, with around 8,000 cows ....

The dairy has applied to expand its operations to about 1,700 more cows and at least half a dozen new buildings, including a 50,000 square-foot barn.

At the same dairy, Merced County has approved the construction of a new digester that would convert cow manure into biogas, a county spokesperson confirmed. Dairy owners argue that turning their livestock’s waste into fuel with these digesters is an environmental benefit that cuts down on the amount of manure they must dispose of. The cow’s waste would otherwise be left to decompose in open lagoons or sent to another facility for use as fertilizer.

People who live nearby beg to differ. Residents and environmental groups say the technology has the potential to leak contaminants into air, water and soils, entrench large-scale herds and could lead farms to expand. (The state claims digesters are not leading dairy farms to grow their herds).

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Across California, there are more than 160 manure digesters operating at dairy farms and dozens of others under construction, according to experts and the industry group, Dairy Cares.

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Across California, there are more than 160 manure digesters operating at dairy farms and dozens of others under construction, according to experts and the industry group, Dairy Cares.

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California is the top milk producer in the U.S., with more than 1.7 million cows generating over $8 billion worth of milk, according to the latest state tally, in 2024.

But residents in Merced County say that windfall comes at a cost that’s difficult to quantify. Families say dairies are not required to strictly monitor the air nearby. Instead, air quality concerns are handled based on complaints to local agencies and self-monitoring practices. Documentation of negative impacts to water quality depends on when inspections occur and how dairies report waste discharges, so incremental impacts to drinking water remain opaque, residents complain.

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Farm owners in California and nationwide—who have suffered financially from rising costs and the COVID-19 pandemic—say their facilities remain vital economic assets for their communities and states.

With that in mind, dairies argue they have taken steps to be better neighbors and safeguard communities by improving their management of emissions and being smarter about where they dispose of their waste. Dairy digesters are an increasingly popular solution to those challenges.

In a statement, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) said the number of dairy cattle in the state declined from 1,780,000 in 2012 to 1,720,000 in 2023-24. CARB also called manure digesters a “viable and effective greenhouse gas reduction tool.”

Still, regional regulators have not shied away about what dairy farms can mean for nearby communities.

Runoff from large-scale farms “can impair both surface and ground water beneficial uses” by producing “significant amounts of coliform, ammonia, nitrate and total dissolved solids contamination,” the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board wrote in a 2019 water quality control plan.

Animal waste can enter the water supply due to facilities’ “inappropriate application of wastewater and manure” to croplands, the board wrote.

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“Dairy digesters are an integral part of California’s comprehensive climate-smart approach to dairy methane reduction,” Michael Boccadoro, executive director of the California trade group Dairy Cares, told Inside Climate News.

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Better manure management practices and the use of digesters has significantly reduced emissions from dairies, Boccadoro said.

“Methane emissions from manure management have declined to 9.9 million metric tons by 2023—about 17 percent—from a peak of 12 million metric tons in 2012,” said Dave Clegern, a spokesman for the California Air Resources Board. A study also found digesters may reduce manure systems’ greenhouse gas emissions by between 58 and 80 percent.

In a June 11 statement, the American Biogas Council reported that nearly 500 American dairies capture energy from their manure using anaerobic digestion. The industry group noted that nearly 3,000 more dairy farms could support new systems too.

Dairy Cares recently responded to the CARB’s request for feedback on ways to meet the requirements of Senate Bill 1383, a 2016 law that commits the state to reduce its methane emissions 40 percent from 2013 levels by 2030. The group’s comments, which took up 26 pages, detailed digester-use as a way to achieve that reduction.

California has supported the technology through the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Dairy Digester Research and Development Program, which provides grants that are funded through the state’s cap-and-invest program. CARB’s low-carbon-fuel-standard provides credits to farmers for fuel the digesters produce, but the program is facing a legal challenge by several environmental groups claiming it incentivizes pollution by propping up the biogas industry.

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Some agriculture experts and environmental justice organizations argue that California’s support for digesters incentivizes dairies in the state to expand their herds. Industry groups counter that farms are not certain to grow due to wider digester implementation, and California officials have disputed that digesters are a factor accelerating herd growth at dairy farms.

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The (Hillcrest) digester would capture methane, hydrogen sulfide, odor and other pollutants and produce biogas that would generate 1-megawatt of electricity for electric vehicle charging stations, according to the state application.

“Overall, the digester project will greatly reduce emissions compared to current operations, reduce manure odor, and clean up wastewater. The project will also produce the lowest carbon intensity power available for zero emission vehicles that will replace vehicles burning diesel and gasoline, further improving air quality,” a portion of the application reads.

A 2022 environmental impact report on the Hillcrest Dairy expansion proposal noted solid manure exported from the dairy would increase from 19,998 to 33,198 tons if the expansion were to take place. That manure would be applied to off-site agricultural fields not owned by the applicant, officials added. No other specifics on manure disposal were disclosed. The Hillcrest proposal also includes the potential for adding a digester to the operation.

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Industry, environmental groups and regulators agree that nitrogen from dairy cow manure can pose a health threat to people. Excess nitrogen from dairies increases nitrate in soils, waterways and groundwater, and has contaminated drinking water in the Central Valley.

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In an environmental analysis a year later, the Merced County Community and Economic Development office said that after off-site disposal of solid wastes, the expansion project would meet the legal requirements for protecting groundwater from nitrogen loading. The county ultimately found the project was consistent with Merced County land-use policies, including standards for CAFOs.

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