A Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) is an animal feeding operation (livestock farm) that meets certain animal size thresholds and that also confines those animals for 45 days or more in any 12-month period in an area that does not produce vegetation. New York state has roughly 500 CAFOs, the majority of which are dairy farms with 300 or more cows. The permit was first issued in 1999 and is designed to protect surface and groundwater from discharges of agricultural pollution (manure, litter, process wastewater, food processing waste, digestate, or releases from feed storage areas) to waters of the state. The current permit (GP-0-22-01) went into effect on January 23, 2023 and has a term of 10 years. This is a non-discharge permit and sets forth the requirements necessary to ensure livestock operations are designed, constructed, operated and maintained to not discharge.