Agriculture water use efficiency: compost applications.

The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to develop a program to increase the use of compost products in agricultural applications, including identifying federal, state, and local financial assistance and cooperating with appropriate federal and state agencies. This bill would enact the Agriculture Water Efficiency with Compost Use and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act of 2011, which would require the Department of Food and Agriculture, in conjunction with the Department of Water Resources, to, through their existing programs, oversee a study or studies conducted by the University of California Extension Service, in partnership with local water districts, farmers, growers, and compost producers, to measure increases in water use efficiency through the use of compost in agricultural settings, and other potential benefits from the use of compost, with regard to climate change.