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DAVIS—A University of California publication for the dairy industry has received an Award of Excellence from the American Society of Agronomy. Project leader Stu Pettygrove will accept the award at the agronomy society's annual meeting in New Orleans Nov. 7.

"We are thrilled with the award for this publication, which outlines management practices that protect surface and groundwater quality," said Pettygrove, UC Cooperative Extension soils specialist at UC Davis. California Dairies: Protecting Water Quality was selected for the award by the agronomy society's Extension Education section.

Milk is now California's No. 1 agricultural commodity with a farmgate value of more than $5 billion annually, according to Pettygrove.

"The state has fewer dairy farms than it did 20 years ago, but the average herd size has increased," he said. "Dairy producers are faced with increasing scrutiny by environmental health and planning agencies. We're happy to be able to share practical approaches and technologies that work to protect water quality."

Pettygrove noted that wide-scale adoption of farming practices that protect the environment depends on awareness and support of agricultural businesses and regulatory agencies. The guide is aimed at lending institutions, consulting engineers and crop management companies that work with dairy producers, as well as regulatory bodies like county environmental health departments and the regional water quality control boards, he said.

The 16-page guide was produced with funding from the California Department of Food and Agriculture's "Buy California" Initiative, the USDA, the US-EPA Clean Water Act, and the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. It was developed through UC SAREP's Biologically Integrated Farming Systems program (information at http://sarep.ucdavis.edu/bifs/).

Pettygrove's coauthors are Patricia Ristow, former postgraduate researcher at UC Davis; Deanne Meyer, UCCE livestock waste management specialist, UC Davis; David Lewis, watershed management advisor, UCCE, Sonoma, Marin and Mendocino counties; Nyles Peterson, dairy advisor and county director, UCCE, San Bernardino County; and Janet Broome, area plant pathologist, UCCE, Sacramento, Yolo and Solano counties. Will Suckow, UC Davis plant sciences department, did layout and design, and Bev Ransom, UC Davis Agricultural Sustainability Institute/UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, helped manage the project.

A limited number of free copies are available by contacting Tiva Lasiter at tlasiter@ucdavis.edu, or (530) 752-1130. The guide is ANR Publication 21630, and may also be ordered for $10 (plus tax and shipping) by calling (800) 994-8849 or by logging onto http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu.