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THREAD: A change to a California law on food waste could have devastating impacts on the animal agriculture industry. Have you heard of AB 2959? If not, please read on. I want to unpack why we need to be vocal about this bill. 1/
Animal ag is often attacked by those who believe it's a major contributor to 
warming. It’s not– but that's not going to be my focus today. Instead, I want to focus on how this bill would take away an opportunity for CA dairy farmers/beef producers to fight #climatechange. 2/
warming. It’s not– but that's not going to be my focus today. Instead, I want to focus on how this bill would take away an opportunity for CA dairy farmers/beef producers to fight #climatechange. 2/
Before we get to the core of AB 2959, let’s discuss background details. Here are two points to grasp: 3/
First, current CA law states, local govt agencies have the authority to decide whether the handling of solid waste is subject to a franchise municipality agreement. BUT there’s an exception: BYPRODUCTS from food and beverage processing. 4/
Second, SB 1383 (signed into law in 2016) mandates a 40% reduction of methane below 2013 levels by 2030. This includes methane from both landfills and livestock. Here's more on the work that’s already being done by the industry through dairy digesters: https://twitter.com/UCDavisCLEAR/status/1274058501262721024?s=20 5/
To recap, CA has a law stating methane emissions in landfills and from livestock must be reduced, and another stating local govts are responsible for managing solid organic waste unless the waste is byproduct from food/beverage manufacturing, processing etc. 6/
Here’s where AB 2959 comes in: The bill would allow local govts to take control of byproducts from restaurants, grocery stores & other retail businesses. Currently, many of these businesses sell their byproducts to haulers who then sell the material to farmers for feed use. 7/
Why this matters: The bill could greatly disrupt the role dairy farmers and beef producers play in keeping solid organic waste from heading into landfills, thus preventing the waste from contributing to more methane emissions in landfills. 8/
According to the @EPA, landfills are the 3rd largest source of human-related methane emissions, accounting for about 15% of all U.S. methane emissions in 2018. https://www.epa.gov/lmop/basic-information-about-landfill-gas 9/
In CA, about 18% of materials that go into landfills is wasted food. In the U.S. about 30-40% of the food supply is wasted. Let those numbers sink in. It’s truly unacceptable. This photo shows a New Jersey family's equivalence in food waste. More: https://www.usda.gov/foodwaste/faqs 10/
Farmers and producers use byproducts inedible by humans to feed livestock. In fact, 86% of global livestock feed is not human edible. This material can come from many different sources including restaurants, grocery stores and retail businesses. 11/
So, byproducts that would otherwise sit at a landfill and emit GHGs, are instead used to produce nutritious protein that CAN be eaten by humans. This is called UPCYCLING and it plays a significant role in meeting SB 1383 goals. 12/
Here’s some further reading on the service cattle provide through upcycling via @darigold: https://www.darigold.com/us-dairy-cows-upcycle-up-to-306m-pounds-of-food-waste-every-day/ 13/
And more by @drsplace: https://medium.com/@beefitsfordinner/fao-affirms-cattles-critical-role-as-upcycler-11fd32a3e85 14/
If the proposed AB 2959 passes, the bill would potentially set back the contributions made by dairy farmers and beef producers in reducing methane emissions. How backwards is that? 15/
We can’t throw blame at our farmers & producers for impacting warming, then take away an opportunity for them to do their part. The bill is in the process of overview by the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. You can urge members to throw it out: https://senv.senate.ca.gov/committeehome 16/
Here are the bills cited in this thread:
AB 2959: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB2959
SB 1383: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1383
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AB 2959: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB2959
SB 1383: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1383
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