Innovating Dairy Digester Research

By Gregory Wlasiuk

Dr. Pramod Pandey who is a faculty member and cooperative extension specialist at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine focuses on better ways to manage dairy waste material for both large and small farms. The UC Davis Western Institute for Food Safety and Security (WIFSS) worked with Dr. Pandey to produce a video highlighting his research on dairy digesters and bio-gas.

California is taking steps towards this goal by building a network of dairy digesters that use bacteria to break down dairy manure and convert it into bio-gas which can then be converted to electricity. This approach can help two ways:

Using manure as a source of renewable energy will Help reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with climate change, because the gases that are produced in the digesters do not result in carbon-emission by-products like other energy sources do.