California Dairy Quality Assurance Program

Environmental Stewardship | Animal Care | Farm Security & Food Safety | Miscellaneous

Environmental Stewardship Certification - How to Certify

CDQA - Environmental Stewardship Certification

How do I Certify?

Any dairy producer in California may certify in Environmental Stewardship. The certification requirements will assist the producer to comply with the federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Participation in the program by a dairy producer is strictly voluntary. The requirements are:

_____ Complete education workshop hours – six hours of water quality (Environmental Stewardship Short Course 1 or other qualified classes) and two hours of air quality.

_____ Contact your local University of California Cooperative Extension Dairy Advisor or field representative if you have questions related to upcoming classes or past class attendance.

_____ Develop and implement Environmental Stewardship Farm Management Plans. These written plans are the property of the producer and will remain in their possession (at the dairy).

These plans will include (but are not necessarily limited to):

_____ The four Risk Assessment documents in Section 3 of the ESSC1 binder or field risk assessment documents for dairies in the Central Valley.

_____ Identify appropriate alternatives for implementation at your facility to reduce risk for items listed.

_____ Estimated liquid manure storage needs for winter months (printout from the *UCCE software or PDFA calculations for dairies in the Central Valley)

_____ Calculate existing water storage capacity (printout from the *UCCE software or PDFA calculations for dairies in the Central Valley)

_____ Develop a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan.

_____ Develop a Manure Management Emergency Plan.

_____ Copies of: conditional use permits (County), Waste Discharge Requirements (WDR) or waiver of WDR (Regional Water Quality Control Board), the Notice of Intent for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Stormwater Permit, Air Quality Permit to Operate, Air Quality Authority to Construct Permits and all annual reports submitted as a result of a government-issued permits.

_____ Documentation, if available, to indicate pond has been constructed to meet applicable regulatory requirements.

Successfully complete an on-site evaluation by an independent, third party evaluator.

The evaluation includes a visual assessment of the facility using a standardized checklist created with input from the regulatory agencies and dairy industry. The on-site evaluation is non-regulatory in nature. Following successful completion of an evaluation, the certification process is complete.

_____ Call CDQA evaluation line (530) 574-0524 to request the third party evaluation.

_____ Schedule your third party evaluation appointment. The individual who completed the education courses must be available to work with the evaluator during the evaluation.

_____ Work with people (dairy advisors, trade associations fieldmen, or consultants) who have been trained by University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) and California Dairy Quality Assurance Program (CDQAP) to prepare you for the evaluation by completing the "Do Ahead" portion of the Third Party Evaluation Checklist.

In the event that the on-site evaluation reveals circumstances which need to be corrected the evaluator will leave the checklist and discuss with the producer items needing corrections and will schedule a subsequent re-evaluation. Upon successful completion of the re-evaluation, the certification process is complete.

All information collected during the evaluation remains on the dairy. All documents, including the completed checklist, remains on the dairy.

If a producer owns more than one facility, separate Environmental Stewardship Farm Management Plans and associated documents, in addition to the Third Party Evaluation Checklist, will have to be completed for each facility where livestock are kept.

* A computer program was developed by UCCE to standardize necessary calculations to estimate storage requirements. Producers are encouraged to use this standardized program to expedite the third party evaluation. Producers that own/operate facilities in the Central Valley can use the Regional Water Quality Control Board’s Preliminary Dairy Facility Assessment (PDFA) program evaluation results.