Minnesota’s largest dairy entity, Riverview LLP, has proposed the state’s first livestock operation exceeding 26,000 animal units—an unprecedented CAFO housing nearly 19,000 dairy cattle at a single site. At more than 60 times the size of the average Minnesota dairy, this Riverview proposal represents a fundamentally new threat to the environment and rural economcies.
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).
CONTACT THE MPCA HERE
LSP is following the Riverview situation closely and will be providing regular updates. If you would like to be included in those updates, sign up here:
ANIMAL AG UPDATE SIGN-UP
About Riverview and the Proposed West River Dairy:
Riverview, based out of Morris, Minn., is one of the largest milk producers in the country. The firm now owns 16 permitted dairy CAFOs in Minnesota alone, and these facilities house a total of more than 135,000 cows, according to the Star Tribune. That accounts for nearly a third of the state’s entire dairy herd. 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 and use a total of 316 gallons of water per year. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
LSP is following the Riverview situation closely and will be providing regular updates. If you would like to be included in those updates, sign up here:
ANIMAL AG UPDATE SIGN-UP