Minnesota’s largest dairy producer has applied to build the first livestock operation in the state to hold over 20,000 animal units. If built, the concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) will hold 18,855 dairy cattle, bringing the total animal units to 26,397 in one facility.

This proposed operation is the first of its size in Minnesota. It would be nearly double the size of the next largest livestock operation in our state in terms of animal units. This makes it a fundamentally new and particularly powerful threat to Minnesota farmers and rural communities.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), which is the agency that issues Minnesota’s feedlot permits, must recognize the fundamentally new nature of this threat and give this permit greater scrutiny than it ever has to previous proposals. This proposal by Riverview, LLP must be required to undergo a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

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Riverview, based out of Morris, Minn., is one of the largest dairy producers in the country. With barns and facilities spread across western Minnesota, Riverview already milks over 125,000 dairy cows in Minnesota alone. They also have a presence in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Arizona. Now, they have begun the permitting process to build the largest CAFO in Minnesota, which could create a model of industrial dairying that our state has never seen.

An EIS will allow the proposal’s negative impacts on water quality and quantity, local roads, and existing independent family dairy farms to be fully analyzed before the project is allowed to seek a permit. According to the documents filed by Riverview, the proposed operation 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.
• Have liquid manure storage encompassing 250 million gallons of waste.
• Require 13,200 acres of farmland for manure application.

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Riverview has a recent history of manure spills in western Minnesota. In Arizona, the company recently agreed to pay $11 million to residents affected by the dairy’s overpumping. 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. A facility of this scale located in such a vulnerable area calls for a thorough environmental review.

Just as importantly, an EIS of the West River Dairy Expansion proposal would address socio-economic impacts. Minnesota is already losing dozens of dairy farms annually due to inconsistent and often below cost-of-production milk prices. Massive dairy operations, like the one Riverview is proposing to build, have glutted the market and tightened Big Milk’s stranglehold on the industry, allowing them to push small and medium-sized family farms out of business and off the land. This operation would only exacerbate the situation and accelerate the loss of dairy farms in our state, decimating Main Street economies in the process.

In Minnesota and across the country, increasing attention is being drawn to the animal agriculture industry and the anti-competitive practices that are being used to benefit a small minority of parties along the food supply chain. From lower milk check amounts and issues related to accessing processing at a fair price, to higher prices at the grocery store, everyone — farmers, the communities they are a part of, and eaters — is being negatively affected by this.

Over the past five years, the Land Stewardship Project has been building a farmer-led campaign to address this consolidation problem and to take action. Our goal is to stop the problem in its tracks and build a better system of animal agriculture in Minnesota that helps small and mid-sized producers get a fair shake, keeps the land and water healthy, and puts more farmers on the land. Right now, that work involves pushing back against this unprecedented operation.

Below are three steps that you can take now to make your voice heard when it comes to the West River Dairy Expansion project and its impacts: 

• Share your concerns about the proposed facility with the MPCA before the comment period closes on Thursday, March 12, at 4:30 p.m.

• Sign up to attend our Organizing Meeting, happening Thursday, March 5, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., over Zoom. At this meeting, we will pull together as folks who care about this issue and talk about other ways that you can get involved.

• Register for the Land Stewardship Project’s Family Farm Breakfast and Lobby Day, happening Wednesday, March 11, in Saint Paul. At the Breakfast and Lobby day, you will have a chance to talk with legislators and other officials about this proposed expansion and why it is important that they pay attention to this issue.

Just like when LSP farmers, members, and supporters banded together to stop over 40 factory farms from being built, or when we successfully pushed for our state’s first extension to the Farmer-Lender Mediation program, we can stand up against this latest effort to create an industry that is not accountable to farmers, the land, or our communities.

More Information

For more information, contact LSP organizer Matthew Sheets at 320-500-7375 or via e-mail.