Locals and environmentalists uneasy over what would be largest dairy farm in Minnesota

KELLY GORDON: This is Minnesota Now. I'm Kelly Gordon sitting in for Nina Moini. A dairy company in West Central Minnesota has plans to expand one of its farms to become the state's largest dairy operation. That's raising concern from some local residents and environmental advocates.

Riverview LLP, which runs West River Dairy near Morris, Minnesota, says it's trying to increase capacity to meet growing demand across the country and world. But opponents say the move will hurt smaller dairy farms and possibly the environment. The proposal is under review right now by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

Here for more on this is Michael Johnson, a news editor for Agweek, who's been following the story. Welcome to Minnesota Now, Michael.

MICHAEL JOHNSON: Thanks for having me, Kelly.

KELLY GORDON: Yeah, so let's just start by catching folks up. Catch us up on where things stand for Riverview in terms of this proposal of expansion. And tell us why they want to expand, more about that.

MICHAEL JOHNSON: Sure, so right now, there are currently two permitting processes going on simultaneously. There's the environmental assessment worksheet as well as a feedlot permit that are available online for the public to comment on. And so that is going on through Thursday of this week. April 9 is the last day to comment. They extended it another month because they felt that this was a project in need of more comment time.

KELLY GORDON: So you said the MPCA is gathering public input on both their proposals, environmental access and the feedlot. So what are they going to do with that information once they have it all?

MICHAEL JOHNSON: They say they are looking to go over all those comments. What they want from that is facts. They want to see if they missed anything, if there's anything that they haven't thought about or heard about. I think is the most concern is concerns over that large of a facility and the amount of manure and water use that can be involved with that.

KELLY GORDON: Yeah, tell us a little bit more about that, for those of us who didn't grow up on a dairy farm, what the concerns are of a dairy farm for people who are concerned about the environment. What are they trying to balance there? What are the risks?

MICHAEL JOHNSON: Sure. So a large dairy operation or cattle operation, any livestock operation is going to produce manure. There is a value in that for crop producers in the area that want to utilize that. But I think the major concern that is being heard is that as more is produced in one location, it gets spread on that local area more heavily, to spread that manure further out, which adds to the expense for that operation. But producers in the area do want it. They just need to be able to use it in moderation.

KELLY GORDON: And is there concern also with the water, either the water that they would use or is it mostly the concern that manure would leak into the groundwater?

MICHAEL JOHNSON: I think we're hearing concerns about both things with any operation like this. What I've heard is that the amount of water that has been requested is more than the entire city of Morris currently uses as a comparison, which sounds quite alarming.

And there are more cows in this operation than there are people in the city of Morris. And they all drink heavily amount of water. So it makes sense that there would be a need for a lot of water. The company has also mentioned that it plans to recycle water, so use water on location, and contain water on location. So that they're not constantly using it from groundwater locations.

KELLY GORDON: That really puts it in perspective when you say that this would use that much water, there's that many cows on this lot if they get it proposed. So I think this kind of points out the fact that we have a state representative, Kristi Pursell, has proposed that we should have environmental impact statements for projects of this size, not just an assessment, which is what's currently happening.

So that bill is getting a committee hearing on Thursday. So can you talk a little bit about what the size of this operation, what other concerns there might be for people as they look at this project, but also other projects that could pop up that would be very, very large?

MICHAEL JOHNSON: So I think anytime that an operation of this size comes around, there's going to be a lot of focus on it. There are around 8,000 head dairy right now, looking to add 11,000. That's going to-- would be the largest in the state. So everybody's going to have their eyes on this project.

They're also looking at Riverview's expansion plans in North Dakota, which is also potentially quadrupling the herd out there. People are pushing back a little bit on that just because this is new. This is in their area and hasn't been before to this extent. We're all used to, at least what I grew up with, was small dairies spread across the entire countryside. Those are drying up and turning into concentrated dairy operations now.

KELLY GORDON: Yeah, that's kind of what I was curious about is does this pose a unique risk to smaller dairies?

MICHAEL JOHNSON: From the folks that I talked to, that is one of the concerns. And maybe for a small dairy farmer, it is their biggest concern is seeing this career that they-- well, more than a career, it's a lifestyle, that they were a part of their entire life, and seeing it become harder and harder to sustain that small operation, because I think we can face it that not a lot of people want to sign up to seven days a week being caretaker for cows.

It's difficult work. It's never ending. You don't get a lot of vacations in it. But for those who do it, they love it. They can't see doing anything else. And just speaking to the fear of concentrations, I guess, is that COVID, when our meat processing plants are so concentrated and we lose access to that, suddenly, producers don't have a place to bring their cattle.

People struggle to get the meat that they expect in the grocery store. And those concerns are now over to dairy when if our choices are limited, the likelihood of losing that supply chain becomes higher.

KELLY GORDON: Can you talk a little bit about what the data shows in terms of consolidation of dairy farms overall?

MICHAEL JOHNSON: Yeah, so I think even this last week, I've seen reports from the USDA about the number of farms continue to shrink. But the farms that are there, the large operations continue to grow. So we're [AUDIO OUT] the largest cattle herd we've seen since 1993, I believe.

So a very big herd, and dairy consumption is also at record levels right now, which is very exciting for those who are in the dairy industry to see that this demand is coming back, because it has been a slow, difficult back and forth few decades. It's been 70 years of lower demand.

KELLY GORDON: So we know that the next steps said, are that people can continue to weigh in until April 9 this week online. And then what are the next steps after that in this process?

MICHAEL JOHNSON: So what I know is that Minnesota Pollution Control Agency would be reviewing those comments. I'm not exactly sure how long that process takes, but they're approve those permits, or they may decide that an environmental impact statement would be required, which would take some more time.

KELLY GORDON: OK well, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge there, Michael. I appreciate you joining us today.

MICHAEL JOHNSON: Thank you so much for having me.

KELLY GORDON: That's Michael Johnson with Agweek.