MORRIS, Minn. — The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) is calling for a thorough environmental review of an unprecedented proposal that would create the largest livestock operation in the state. Riverview, LLP is proposing to expand an existing concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) in Stevens County to 18,855 dairy cattle, resulting in 26,397 animal units housed in one location. It would be nearly double the size of the next largest livestock operation in Minnesota in terms of animal units.
“The unprecedented nature of this proposal requires the most accurate examination possible of the potential impacts it could have on our land, farmers and rural communities,” said Sean Carroll, LSP’s policy director.
The public has until March 12 to submit comments to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) on the Riverview proposal. Comments can be submitted at https://bit.ly/rivervieweis.
Riverview, based out of Morris, Minn., is one of the largest milk producers in the country. The company already milks over 125,000 dairy cows in Minnesota alone. Riverview also has a major presence in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico and Arizona.
According to a permit filed with the MPCA, the proposed Stevens County facility would be allowed to pump up to 226 million gallons of water per year from an off-site well. For reference, the City of Morris, which is home to over 5,000 people, is permitted to pump up to 300 million gallons of water a year. The so-called “West River Dairy Expansion” would have liquid manure storage encompassing 250 million gallons of waste and would require 13,200 acres of farmland for manure application, according to the permit application.
The proposed Stevens County site sits within five miles of eight different protected waterfowl and wildlife production areas and is part of the Pomme de Terre River watershed, just 25 miles from its confluence with the Minnesota River. The MPCA already lists as impaired the two closest waterways to the facility, the Pomme de Terre River and an unnamed creek. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has not yet completed a mapping of Stevens County’s groundwater resources and aquifers for its County Geologic Atlas Series.
“It is irresponsible to other water users and residents of the area to move forward with this permit without a full understanding of the potential impacts of having the largest CAFO in the state operating in the neighborhood,” said Carroll.
In February 2025, Riverview reported that manure had escaped a holding tank at its operation near Pennock, Minn. In Arizona, the company recently came to an agreement with the Attorney General there over its excessive use of water in the region where it operates. Under the agreement, Riverview agreed to pay $11 million to Arizona residents affected by the dairy’s over-pumping.
LSP is calling for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to be completed before Riverview’s Stevens County permit is approved. An EIS, which must be ordered by the MPCA, provides detailed information about the extent of potentially significant environmental impacts of a proposed project, presents alternatives to the proposed project and identifies methods for reducing adverse environmental effects. A bill being proposed in the current Minnesota Legislature by Rep. Kristi Pursell would require that an EIS be completed for new or expanding animal feedlots that hold 10,000 animal units or more.
“An EIS is simply including in the application a full-scope accounting of the impacts to the community, and yet in the very few cases in the past where CAFOs have been ordered to complete one they have dropped the project, which is telling as to both the impact of these massive mega-dairies and their willingness to be transparent about the resources they consume,” said Caroll.
Just as importantly, an EIS of the West River Dairy Expansion proposal would address socio-economic impacts, said James Kanne, a Renville County, Minn., dairy farmer. Minnesota is already losing dozens of dairy farms annually due to inconsistent and often below cost-of-production milk prices, he said, adding that massive dairy operations like the one Riverview is proposing to build have glutted the market and tightened the stranglehold milk giants have on the industry, allowing them to push small and medium-sized family farms out of business and off the land.
“Riverview’s latest push for expansion would only exacerbate the situation and accelerate the loss of dairy farms in our state, decimating Main Street economies in the process,” said Kanne. “They are trying to do in Minnesota what we have seen them doing already in the Dakotas. This isn’t about filling a market niche — it’s about pushing every last independent farmer out and creating a situation where Riverview is the only one left. Then they will be able to call all the shots.”
Riverview’s recent push to dominate the dairy industry in the Upper Midwest has been mired in controversy. In 2025 alone, Riverview submitted applications to construct and operate three dairy facilities in the Dakotas. Two of these operations — the 12,500-head Abercrombie Dairy and the 25,000-head Herberg Dairy — would quadruple the number of dairy cows in North Dakota.
“They would also quadruple North Dakota’s production of pollutant-laden CAFO waste,” said Dani Repogle, an attorney for Food & Water Watch.
As a result of concerns about impacts such mega-operations will have on water quality, the Dakota Resource Council is suing Riverview over one if its North Dakota proposals. Food & Water Watch and the Wild & Scenic Law Center are assisting in the lawsuit.
Riverview is proposing a 25,000-cow operation in north-central South Dakota’s Edmunds County, but that project has been delayed because of questions surrounding the application.
“We’ve seen in our home state the havoc Riverview can play in our rural communities,” said Julie Burgod, a cattle and grain farmer in the area of the proposed South Dakota dairy. “That’s why Minnesotans need to speak out.”
Joe Stromen, a rural resident who lives near the proposed West River Dairy Expansion, said requiring the project to undergo an EIS would give local residents a say in what kind of agriculture dominates their community.
“The way I feel about big ag and consolidation is that it historically has not done any favors for rural communities,” he said. “Large scale operations may bring in some workers, but they do not solve any problems. We just end up with more poor land management.”
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The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering an ethic of stewardship for farmland, promoting sustainable agriculture and developing healthy communities in the food and farming system. LSP has offices in the Minnesota communities of Montevideo, Lewiston and South Minneapolis. More information is available at landstewardshipproject.org.