MORRIS, Minn. — As state regulators consider an unprecedented proposal for creating the largest livestock operation in Minnesota, it’s clear a convergence of rapid consolidation, economic distress and large-scale expansion raises urgent questions about whether existing policies are adequately protecting fair competition, rural communities and public resources, argues a new white paper released by the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) today. “Flooding the Market: How Dairy Consolidation is Drowning Minnesota’s Farmers & Rural Communities” outlines how the proposal by Riverview LLP to expand an operation in Stevens County so that it can house 18,500 milk cows in one location is a “game changer” that will push more independent dairy farmers out of business, having significant negative economic and environmental impacts in rural communities.
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 Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’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.
“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,” said Sean Carroll, LSP’s policy director and the author of the report. “What does it mean for farming communities and Minnesota’s economy if one dairy company forecasts that this is quote, unquote, ‘the best place in the world to continue to grow’ while 75% of dairy farmers over the past two decades have gone out of business?”
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.
“The bottom line is that without action, current trends are likely to accelerate the loss of independent farms and further concentrate control over Minnesota’s dairy economy, with lasting consequences for rural communities and the state’s agricultural future,” said Carroll. “The state can start to address this issue today by requiring a comprehensive examination of the potential impacts of Riverview’s latest expansion proposal.”
The LSP white paper, “Flooding the Market: How Dairy Consolidation is Drowning Minnesota’s Farmers & Rural Communities,” is available at landstewardshipproject.org/bigmilk.
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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.