In mid-September, KRCB hosted a debate on Measure J, the current ballot measure that seeks to limit the size of animal farms in Sonoma County.

The newsroom set out to look more into various statements made by both sides during the debate. Here’s KRCB news director Greta Mart…

Greta Mart: As Sonoma County voters make their decisions in the days leading up to the Nov. 5 election, we are presenting a final summary of what we’ve heard in our reporting on Measure J, to help inform our community on this contentious topic. We aired part 1 yesterday: All segments of this series will be posted on our website, KRCB dot org. 

I’m here with KRCB’s Noah Abrams. Measure J asks voters….should Sonoma County ban concentrated animal feeding operations, known as CAFOs. Those responsible for bringing this to the ballot is the ‘Yes on J’ campaign, and they say large animal ag farms hurt the environment. 

Noah, let's take a look at some of the environmental impact claims…

Greta Mart: I spoke with Dr. Richard Frank about this. He is professor of environmental practice at the UC Davis School of Law. He says he suspects Measure J…

Richard Frank: May be a solution in search of a real problem….

Greta Mart: But Frank says the environmental impacts of large animal ag operations should be a concern across the country….

Richard Frank: The US Environmental Protection Agency, depending on who you talk to, has either done an adequate or good job of controlling animal waste that get into our public water systems and streams and lakes, or has been ineffective and in the pocket of the industry according to some critics of the EPA operation. But maintaining water quality and preventing serious pollutants like nitrogen and phosphorus emanating from animal waste that historically have gotten into water sources upon which we depend….that's a very serious problem in my view.

Noah Abrams: I want to start again with a clip from the debate...here's Lewis Bernier with the ‘Yes on J’ campaign:

Lewis Bernier: CAFO's create a huge amount of waste. A single dairy CAFO, with 700 mature dairy cows, produces more waste than the entire human population of Petaluma. It's really hard to comprehend exactly how much waste is coming from these animals

Noah Abrams: So I did some computations on Bernier’s claim during the debate, using US Department of Agriculture numbers and emissions estimates reported by the Regional Climate Protection Authority in its countywide Greenhouse Gas Emission inventory. 

What it shows is that 700 mature dairy cattle producing 120 pounds of waste - cow manure - daily for 365 days, would produce more solid waste in a year than the carbon emissions from wastewater the residents of the City of Petaluma generate in a year.

About 30 million pounds of waste from the cows, compared to about 12 million pounds of CO2 generated from the city's wastewater.

Now, that is not the case for solid waste - trash - emissions Petaluma generates; that's closer to 48 million pounds of CO2 generated annually.

It’s important to note that those aren't apples-to-apples numbers either - it's a comparison of solid cow waste to CO2 emissions from human solid waste and wastewater. Regardless, I think it shows just how much waste our society generates each and every day.

Greta Mart: You've got another clip here from Bernier.

Lewis Bernier: That waste, that manure, along with the enteric fermentation that happens in the digestive system of cows creates a huge amount of emissions. The Regional Climate Protection Authority has found that animal agriculture is the third leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions in Sonoma County.

Noah Abrams: So Lewis is correct, agricultural emissions are a really big driver of greenhouse gas emissions in Sonoma County. And that enteric fermentation, the cow's digestive system, and manure are identified by the Regional Climate Protection Authority as some of the main drivers of those emissions.

Noah Abrams: Here’s Randi Black - researcher at the University of California Cooperative Extension for Sonoma, Marin, and Mendocino counties. She and I talked at some length about Sonoma County's agriculture emissions...

Randi Black: Now if we look back at our county's ag emissions inventory, so you're correct, our agricultural emissions have really stayed stable over the 32 years that they have modeled data for.

Noah Abrams: Just want to say those 32 years are from 1990 to 2022.

Randi Black: I will note though that our county's population over that same amount of time has risen almost 100,000 people. So I actually take that to mean that we're producing more efficient methods to feed more people with a similar emissions factor. In a different way, our ag emissions have decreased by half a percent over those 32 years, but we've seen a 19.69% per capita reduction over that same time frame. So I really see this as us producing food much more efficiently and in a way that we're feeding more people without having a larger impact on our environment. 

Greta Mart: You've got some caveats you'd like to add though, right?

Noah Abrams:: Yes I do - we've got lots of organic dairies in Sonoma County, and a requirement for the organic certification is that the cows graze on pasture for at least 120 days a year.

I want to again go to Dr. Randi Black, because she has some notable things to say about the pasture grazing….

Randi Black: Because we have all these grasslands, we have a really unique way to sequester carbon from the atmosphere because plants photosynthesize. And so when we are intensively grazing that land, the roots are going deeper. The actual grass that's growing on the top is growing faster and and pulling in more carbon. And so then that plant can store more carbon in its roots and in its soil, and that activity was not accounted for. So there's this aspect of, okay, the ag is producing this much emissions, but there's no credit for the emissions that we're pulling out of the atmosphere.

Greta Mart: Got it…interesting…..

Noah Abrams: I think it's important to keep in mind that animal ag does, especially cows, create a lot of emissions, but with 42 of Sonoma County's 50 dairies being certified organic, the level of those emissions is different than what you might see at conventional feedlot in the Central Valley for example.

And I'd add two more things, one, Black also noted that the emission inventory is based on modelling, for good reason, there's not simply not enough money and time to measure every little bit of greenhouse gas output, but at the same time, that modelling is based on a conventional dairy model, not an organic one.

And second, dairies take up a lot of the conversation about climate impacts, and around the potential impacts of Measure J, but as Black agrees, they actually make up the minority of operations that would likely be impacted - most of the larger operations that have been identified are poultry facilities; but public information on dairy and cattle operations happens to be much more readily available.

Greta Mart: Ok, thank you, Noah…we’ll continue this series, next looking at the connection between Measure J and public health.

You’re tuned to KRCB Sonoma County News