Best management practices for dairy producers to reduce their GHG emissions from manure
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Dairy farmers may not consider greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions a key issue, but federal and state governments, the dairy industry, and perhaps more importantly, consumers of dairy products, do. While federal and state GHG reduction targets vary, most have set aggressive goals to cut GHG emissions roughly in half from recent levels by the year 2030. Similarly, the U.S. dairy industry has a Net Zero Initiative with the goal of reaching GHG neutrality by 2050. Consumers are also looking for milk with a lower carbon footprint and dairy processors and food industries are responding to those demands. Furthermore, climate change in the Northeast is increasing the annual average temperatures and the number of hot days that can cause heat stress in cattle. Substantially more precipitation is also occurring, including a 55 percent increase in the heaviest precipitation events. This will impact field work, regional grain production, and will certainly increase manure storage needs as more bunk leachate and rainwater will be collected.