PLANADA, CALIF. — Merced County has approved the construction of a new digester at Hillcrest Dairy, located in Le Grand, next to Planada. The approved digester would convert cow manure into biogas. Hillcrest Dairy has also submitted an application to expand its operations, which includes adding approximately 1,700 more cows to its current herd of about 8,000 and constructing at least half a dozen new buildings, including a 50,000 square-foot barn.

Currently, more than 160 manure digesters are operating at dairy farms across California, with dozens more under construction. All but four of the 165 digesters identified by Stanford University are in, or partially in, the Central Valley. California is the top milk-producing state in the U.S., with more than 1.7 million cows and generating over $8 billion worth of milk in 2024. The Central Valley, where Merced County is located, is home to 89 percent of California's cows and 81 percent of its dairy farms. The California Air Resources Board indicated that the number of dairy cattle in California decreased from 1,780,000 in 2012 to 1,720,000 in 2023-24.

David Rodriguez, 71, lives about a four-minute drive from Hillcrest Dairy. He previously worked for Merced City schools and purchased his home in Planada about three decades ago. Rodriguez described the area before the arrival of dairies, saying, "I considered this a little piece of heaven before the dairies arrived." He added, "Me and my friends would go out there. No odors, no smells."

Planada has a population of 4,000, with 98 percent of its residents being Hispanic. In Merced County, proposals for dairy farms could increase the total number of dairy cows and other cattle by as many as 46,148 countywide. Three members of the Merced County Board of Supervisors, which oversees dairy applications, have past connections to the dairy industry. Merced County has also permitted or is in the process of permitting about ten dairy expansions and two biogas pipeline and infrastructure projects that serve milk cow manure digesters.

Jamie Zweifler-Katz, a senior staff attorney at the Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability, stated, "Over the last decade, California has created policies that favor large-scale industrial dairies over smaller operations and lock in the most environmentally harmful practices that disproportionately impact low-income communities of color." She added, "Merced County is an unfortunate example of the effect that these incentives have on expanding dairy operations." Rita Rodriguez, a former public health department worker, remarked on local water quality, stating, "We don't drink that water. I don't use it for cooking."

In a 2019 water quality control plan, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board stated that runoff from large-scale farms can impair both surface and groundwater beneficial uses, producing coliform, ammonia, nitrate, and total dissolved solids contamination. The Environmental Protection Agency counts over 1,000 concentrated animal feeding operations in California.