MORRIS, Minn. — Any public policy related to creating a positive future for dairy farming must include strong provisions for controlling the rampant growth of mega-operations in the region while instituting market reforms, argues the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) in official comments submitted to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) today. From now until Oct. 1, the MDA is accepting public input on the socioeconomic impacts of large-scale dairies — operations the MDA categorizes as having 10,000 or more cows. These comments can be submitted at www.mda.state.mn.us/input-socioeconomic-impact-large-scale-dairies-minnesota and will be summarized for the Minnesota Legislature ahead of the 2027 legislative session. This unprecedented comment period is the result of concerns raised by LSP members and other members of the public by Riverview LLP’s plans to create the largest dairy operation in the state’s history near Morris.

“Minnesota’s small and medium-sized dairy farmers aren’t going out of business because they aren’t good at what they do — they’re being pushed out by a lack of access to a market that offers a fair, consistent price,” said Sean Carroll, LSP’s policy director. “Such a market will remain out of reach until we rein in the Riverviews of the world, which are threatening to control every pound of milk produced in the state. Public policy got us into this mess, and public policy can play a major role in supporting the kind of agriculture that’s good for farmers, rural communities and our food supply.”

Riverview’s proposed 18,855-cow facility would be more than 60 times the size of the average Minnesota dairy. Riverview, which is based in Morris, is the second-largest producer of milk and milk products in the United States, and has been undertaking a major expansion in recent years, building and enlarging concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and beyond.

LSP’s comments outline numerous negative socioeconomic impacts of mega-dairies in the state. The average Minnesota dairy farm has roughly 280 milk cows and 92% of these farms have fewer than 500 cows. These farms are heavily reliant on numerous support businesses in rural communities, including veterinarians, feed suppliers, hardware stores and equipment suppliers. According to economic research summarized by South Dakota State University dairy experts, for every $1 a dairy farm spends locally, roughly $2.50 in wages and related business transactions is contributed to the local economy. This makes small and medium-sized dairies key economic drivers in rural communities, meaning the loss of individual farmers constitutes a major financial hit for a town, said Carroll. Minnesota has lost nearly 75% of its dairy farms over the past two decades. One University of Minnesota study found that as larger dairies began to dominate one community, it resulted in a significant drop in economic and social activity, including an 81% drop in retail sales.

“When we bought our farm in 1993, there were about 12 dairy farms within a three-mile radius of us,” said Bonnie Haugen, who, before switching to beef production, milked cows in Fillmore County for 30 years. “Now there are zero.”

The takeover of dairying by mega-operations is severely limiting options for the next generation of farmers, said Sibley County farmer Darrel Mosel. When he and his wife, Diane, were in conversation to sell their dairy operation to a younger family, the local cooperative would not guarantee a contract to pick up milk, even as a mega-dairy in the farmers’ area continued to expand.

“Because we couldn’t guarantee the milk would even be picked up, that sale to the younger farmers fell through,” Mosel said.

In its comments to the MDA, LSP calls for numerous policy changes to bolster a dairy economy based on small and medium-sized farms, including: expanding market access for value-added products like cheese and yogurt; adjusting public policy that sets the price of milk by, for example, increasing payments to farmers with moderate-sized herds; and supporting the next generation of dairy farmers through training and apprenticeship programs.

However, the organization warned that these reforms will be limited in their impact if they are not accompanied by restrictions on the ability of mega-operations to dominate the markets. LSP’s comments call for policies that rein in the anti-competitive behavior of mega-operations by, among other things, making sure no one entity can control an outsized share of the market and ending subsidies, cost-shares and other public support for the largest operations. Riverview is 500 times bigger than the average Minnesota dairy farm and already controls almost a third of the milk produced in the state.

“Investing in new processing or new markets will not be effective if mega-dairies can continue to undercut the current market with massive over-supply,” said Carroll. “This anti-competitive behavior allows them to operate basically as a monopoly. The public should not be forced to support such an anti-free market approach.”

Duane Holker, who milks 85 cows in Stearns County, said he has had to switch processors in recent years as Riverview came to dominate his local creamery, soaking up more of the processor’s payouts through volume and content premiums, which left less money for moderate-sized farms like his.

“One mega-dairy may employ workers, but it does not replace what is lost when independent entrepreneurial farmers disappear,” said Holker. “The thousands of dairy farms that have gone out of business since Riverview began operating in the 1990s aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet. They represent families who made a living on the land and sustained rural communities.”

LSP’s comments to the MDA on the socioeconomic impacts of mega-dairies are available at landstewardshipproject.org/mdadairycomment.

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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.