MORRIS, Minn. — The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) is applauding the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s (MDA) recent announcement that it will be seeking public input on the socioeconomic impact of large-scale dairies in the state. Information will be gathered through two virtual meetings (noon to 1 p.m., and 7:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.) on Tuesday, July 28, as well as via an online form. The online form will accept comments between July 28 and Oct. 1. A summary of the comments will be sent by the MDA to the Minnesota Legislature. For information on the July 28 meetings and submitting comments online, see http://www.mda.state.mn.us/dairyinput.
“This is a prime opportunity to communicate to decision-makers the value of small and medium-sized independent dairy farms and the threat that mega-dairy operations pose to rural communities and the dairy industry at large,” said Carrie Redden, a Stevens County, Minn., livestock farmer and LSP member.
The Agriculture Department is soliciting input after the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) announced it will not require an environmental impact statement (EIS) for Riverview LLP’s proposed expansion of its existing West River Dairy facility in Minnesota’s Stevens County. Riverview is seeking to expand the operation from 7,855 cows to 18,855 cows, making it the largest dairy facility and largest concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) in Minnesota.
LSP and community members repeatedly urged the MPCA to require a full EIS because of the scale of the proposal and its potential impacts on water resources, nearby communities and independent livestock producers. Public concern about the proposal has been overwhelming. More than 1,400 people submitted official public comments to the MPCA, and 1,140 people signed LSP’s petition calling for a full EIS. By law, the MPCA must base their decision on environmental factors; however, the state agency received many comments on the West River Dairy proposal related to the social and economic impact of larger dairies, which the MDA is defining as approximately 10,000 or more cows.
Although the MPCA declined to order an EIS, the Stevens County Board, through its permitting process, still has the authority over whether the West River Dairy expansion goes forward. The Board is expected to take up the proposal sometime later this summer.
Riverview LLP, which is based out of Morris, has rapidly grown into the dominant dairy operator in Minnesota, with a scale of production that far exceeds that of any other farm in the state. According to the MPCA’s feedlot database, Riverview owns 15 dairy operations totaling more than 133,000 cows, with an average of nearly 9,000 cows per site. By comparison, the average dairy herd in Minnesota consists of approximately 280 cows. This means Riverview operates at a scale roughly 500 times larger than the typical dairy farm. The 14 largest dairy operations in Minnesota are all owned by Riverview, with the largest single facility housing approximately 12,000 cows. Meanwhile, Minnesota has lost nearly 75% of its dairy farms over the past two decades.
As a recent LSP white paper on the dairy industry points out, small and medium-sized farmers are not failing due to inefficiency or lack of output, but because they lack access to fair and reliable markets, and are increasingly pushed out of the supply chain by large-scale industrial producers like Riverview. Ensuring that more farmers can remain on the land and participate in a fair market will require targeted action on the part of public policy makers, argues the white paper. Specifically, it outlines four policy proposals: strengthening fair market protections, protecting shared natural resources, investing in diversified and regional processing infrastructure and expanding local and institutional markets for small and medium-sized farmers.
“This is not just about one permit. It is about whether Minnesota’s farm and food system will work for family farmers and rural communities — or whether industrial mega-dairies will continue to flood the market, push independent producers out of business, and drain wealth from local economies,” said Matthew Sheets, an LSP organizer based out of Morris. “Together, we can demand policies that keep farmers on the land, protect rural communities and build a food and farm system rooted in stewardship, fairness and local power.”
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