Production of Dairy Manure and Almond Wood Compost for Healthy Soils

RESEARCHER: Ruihong Zhang, UC Davis

TIMELINE: January 2020 to June 2022

BACKGROUND: In 2018, CDFA funded a Healthy Soils Program project to investigate the production of composted dairy manure products and their application to almond orchards in relation to soil health, GHG emissions, and almond yield and safety.

In 2020, CDRF joined this work by adding more field experiments to co-compost dairy manure solids with almond woody biomass and apply the compost in almond orchards.

OBJECTIVE: To develop innovative methods for the production of pelletized compost from manure solids that can slowly release nutrients to plants and reduce nutrient leaching and contamination of soil and ground water; and providing new scientific knowledge on the co-composting of manure solids and woody biomass and the pelletization of the mixtures of both materials.

INDUSTRY BENEFIT: The production of new pelletized composted products made up of dairy manure and almond wood biomass will help enable manure export off dairy facilities, improve nutrient balance and enhance sustainability.

Project is co-funded with the Almond Board of California.