North Dakota
As dairy declines in ND, could new facilities prompt a renewal? Boosters, and opponents, are watching
GARY, Minn. — At this rural northwest Minnesota dairy, cows casually make their way onto a large rotating platform, where an employee ensures they’re properly situated for their regular milking. As the platform spins in a slow circle while the cows are milked, it’s a bit like watching a giant merry-go-round.
With milking complete, suction pieces remove themselves automatically, allowing the animals to disembark and make their way to bedding, water and food. Another group then takes their place.
The Waukon Dairy, located near Gary, Minnesota, and operated by Riverview LLP, is home to 10,500 cows. About 9,000 are milked twice a day, while the remaining 1,500 are “dry cows” waiting to give birth.
Proposed Riverview dairies near the North Dakota communities of Hillsboro and Abercrombie would be similarly operated.
“This carousel, this rotary, would be the style that you’d see in our other farms,” said Erica Boyum, a Riverview spokeswoman. “We do have some different robots or automated technology. … We’re always looking at different innovations to help with our labor needs, repetitive processes.”
Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald
In 2024, Riverview, based in Morris, Minnesota, announced its plans to build two North Dakota dairies, an ongoing process being followed by supporters — among them North Dakota livestock officials and nearby producers — as well as opponents.
The company has received permitting and is working on a timeline for the Abercrombie dairy, while it awaits permitting for the Hillsboro project.
If both farms are built, the combined 25,000 cows planned for the dairy near Hillsboro and 12,500 cows at the Abercrombie dairy would more than quadruple North Dakota’s dairy cattle population.
The state’s dairy cow numbers have declined by the tens of thousands over the past 40-some years, according to data from the United States Department of Agriculture. Statistics compiled by North Dakota State University Extension show North Dakota had 93,000 dairy cows as recently as 1980. The number dropped about 46% by the year 2000, down to 50,000. By 2023, it had fallen to 14,000.
Today, the number is somewhere around 9,000 to 9,500, said North Dakota Livestock Alliance Executive Director Amber Wood. Dairy facility numbers have fallen in corresponding fashion as well, including the 2023 closing of Prairie Farms in Bismarck.
That closure forced some remaining dairy operations to ship milk elsewhere. Wood said many transported their milk to a Pollock, South Dakota, processor, which then closed in August 2024. North Dakota only has one major dairy processor, Wood said, in Fargo – Cass Clay Creamery.
The growing distance to get dairy products to a processor has been a key factor in some North Dakota dairies shutting down, Wood said. Dairies in the west and central parts of the state have felt the strain worse, as Cass Clay sits on the eastern side of the state, and with others farther away in states like Minnesota and South Dakota.
And as farmers retire, succeeding generations have less desire to take over the business, Wood said.
For Wood, the fading numbers of cows and dairies make Riverview’s entrance into North Dakota a welcomed one.
“I think anything that can be done to try to correct the losses we have had in the milk processing industry is a good thing,” she said.
Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald
Though Riverview is entering from Minnesota, interest from in-state students and legislators signal potential growth in the industry.
At NDSU, the Dairy Research and Teaching Center has seen rising interest in dairy, said Manager Todd Molden. The center, which milks about 100 cows, does research trials and tours, teaching students about milk and other products.
The university’s dairy club is also as big as it’s ever been, Molden said. The group goes on trips to tour dairies, assists with ag in classrooms and does outreach for the dairy industry.
The center has received several renovations in the last couple of months.
“There’s a lot more interest in dairy than people might think at NDSU,” he said. “As I look at these students I can see that they’re going to be terrific leaders in the dairy industry when they get into it.”
At the state level, there’s an effort to entice more processors to come to North Dakota. Senate Bill 2342 – passed by the 2025 Legislature and signed by Gov. Kelly Armstrong – will create a value-added milk processing facility incentive program and authorize a Bank of North Dakota line of credit. In testimony favoring the bill, Greg Lardy, vice president for agriculture at NDSU, said North Dakota has been lagging behind neighboring states for decades when it comes to its livestock sector’s economic contribution.
“Livestock development is crucial to enhancing the long-term economic impact of agriculture on the state’s economy,” he said. “As North Dakota continues to look to the future, enhancing livestock development through incentivizing food processing will be critical to our overall success.”
Wood said Riverview presents an opportunity for North Dakota, as more cows could incentivize increased milk production.
“You have to have enough cows to justify milk processing infrastructure, but then you have to have milk processing in order to justify more cows,” she said. “It all needs to happen at the same time.”
Riverview is searching for a processor and won’t start building without having a destination for the milk, Boyum said. The agribusiness has other factors it considers when going through a permitting process, she said, such as access to water, if there are nearby growers who can provide silage for the cows and if the community will be supportive. In terms of water and growers, North Dakota is a good spot, Boyum believes.
Community support has come from some residents near the planned dairies. During an open house in Hillsboro, some voiced their interest in the dairy and what it could do for their community or farming business.
Sarah Hall Lovas, an agronomist, believes the dairy will be a boon, as more people will be in town for local businesses and farmers will have the opportunity to work with Riverview.
“The way I think Riverview is going to be working, they contract a lot with the local farmers for different things,” she said. “I think it’s going to really provide a lot of great opportunities for our farmers, as far as opportunities to plant some of the crops. Fertilizer is really expensive right now, and the opportunity to take manure is just huge.”
Also during the open house, Tom McNamee, a farmer, said he’s been excited about the proposed dairy since word of it started. He agreed it will give farmers more opportunities for growing silage for the cows and getting nutrients for their crops. He’s been on a tour to Waukon Dairy and he said concerned residents will be at ease when they see it.
“These guys really want to be good neighbors, from what I’ve seen,” he said.
Opponents are watching, too. A group called the Dakota Resource Council has expressed concerns about what they believe are potential environmental impacts of the dairies, such as the Abercrombie dairy’s proximity to the Red River and other local water infrastructure. The group has been focused on trying to overturn the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality’s approval of a permit for the Abercrombie dairy. On April 3, the council
hosted a public meeting
in Fargo to discuss concerns.
“These mega-large facilities will come with problems that you would not necessarily see in an 800- to 1,000-cow operation,” said Sam Wagner, lead organizer from the Dakota Resource Council, at the meeting.
In a letter to the editor published in the Grand Forks Herald and The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, Candace Kraft, of Fargo, outlined her issues with the incoming facilities.
“Many deficiencies exist for both factory farms’ current nutrient management plans, including high potential for manure overapplication and poor timing of dung application to fields,” she wrote. “With both mega-dairies at full capacity, 321 million gallons of manure sludge containing nitrogen, phosphorus, E. Coli, parasites and other pathogens will be spread on farm fields. Private wells are especially vulnerable to groundwater contamination around mega-dairies.”
At Waukon Dairy, Boyum and Ron Visser, one of the site managers, addressed Riverview’s handling of manure and water. Boyum said all the manure at the dairy is vacuumed and separated between solid and liquid. The solid fertilizer is used for bedding for the cows — Visser said people are surprised to find it essentially has no odor. Liquid manure is sent to lagoons on the property. The lagoons are covered with synthetic tarps, said Riverview’s Martha Koehl during an open house in Hillsboro. The tarps, as well as twice-daily cleanings of the farms, help mitigate smell, she said. All of the liquid manure is sold as a fertilizer source.
Also, Riverview buys 100% of its feed for the cows.
Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald
Visser said the team does everything within its control to manage water. Waukon Dairy uses rainwater and snow melt on the site for 30% to 40% of its water source. The site has holding ponds and a retention pond, and that water is used for drinking water for the cows. However, the dairy can’t use that water for everything – for example, cooling the milk and washing requires well water. The dairy is working to raise the percentage of rainwater and runoff water it’s using, Visser said.
“We’re innovative,” he said.
Boyum said that anyone with concerns or interest in the dairies are free to reach out to Riverview for a tour of the dairy closest to them.
“I think it is very normal for people to be curious about what we’re doing or ask questions,” she said. “We want to be good neighbors.”
Visser’s wife, Kari, runs tours at the dairy and said both she and her husband grew up in the county.
“At first I was like, ‘they’re going to build a dairy up here, I’m not quite sure how that’s going to go,’” she said. “But it’s been so fun to see the community just spread their arms around it.”
Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald
BISMARCK — Fargo Shanley shined in a battle of unbeatens Saturday afternoon at Sanford Sports Complex, while unseating the defending state champion.
The Deacons got goals from Carly Hulstein, Emma Rohrich and Annie Yablonski to earn a 3-0 victory against Mandan for the North Dakota girls soccer state championship.
Shanley completed its unbeaten season, while shutting out defending champ Mandan for the first time this spring.
“The girls were excited to play Mandan, two undefeated teams and someone had to come out as the winner,” Deacons head coach Ryan Christianson said. “Whoever worked the hardest was going to come out champions, our girls were hungry.”
Tanner Ecker / Bismarck Tribune
The Deacons (13-0-4) won their first state crown since 2019 and third overall. Mandan (17-0-1) fell one win shy of a repeat.
“Tough game, I felt like we controlled the game, to be honest,” Mandan head coach Aaron McElwee said. “We knew they would be dangerous on set pieces and that’s what they created.”
Shanley converted on a corner kick in the opening half for what proved to be the game-winning goal. Hulstein got a late head touch on a corner off the foot Rohrich, giving the Deacons a 1-0 lead with 16 minutes remaining until halftime.
“The first goal in the first half, that sparked momentum,” Christianson said. “Coming off of last year, we scored a bunch of corners, but this year I think we only had one or two. To make it count in the state championship game, I’ll take it.”
Tanner Ecker / Bismarck Tribune
The first insurance goal for the Deacons came with less than 18 minutes left in the second, as Rohrich scored off a rebound.
“That second goal was a hustle effort by Emma with an awesome finish,” Christianson said. “Emma was locked in from yesterday’s game, two goals sparked the fire and led into today. She deserved that one.”
Yablonski, a freshman, scored her first varsity goal for a 3-0 lead with 1 minute, 31 seconds remaining, as Mandan tried to apply pressure late.
“Annie with the cherry on top with the deep ball after the goalie was pushed up to help her team,” Christianson said. “That’s a way to start off your varsity career. She was close earlier in the game with a shot that went wide of the post, but that was a heads-up play by her, noticing the goalie was out.”
Tanner Ecker / Bismarck Tribune
Mandan’s best chance came from senior Sarah Helderop, off a corner kick in the second half, but Shanley goalkeeper Kailey Ottmar knocked the ball down and grabbed the rebound before any Braves players could arrive.
“Kailey was focused from the beginning of the game, usually I talk to her a bit, but she wanted to be by herself,” Christianson said. “She didn’t have to do too much, but there was a corner, a free kick. She was heads-up and had a good handle on the ball.”
Ottmar finished with six saves to earn the shutout. Gabby Frohlich had three saves for Mandan.
“Congrats to Shanley,” McElwee said. “We were close.”
Tanner Ecker / Bismarck Tribune
Filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court
North Dakota
Shelly Frances, Minot, Chapter 7
Garrett Joseph Farnsworth, Bismarck, Chapter 7
Aaron James Goette, Horace, Chapter 13
Destinee L. Reed, Grand Forks, Chapter 7
LaWayne and Ruthanna Smith, Surrey, Chapter 13
Sabrina Marie Odegaard, formerly known as Sabrina Marie Wagner, Dickinson, Chapter 7
Krysti Mae Bench, formerly known as Krysti Mae Gainey, Fargo, Chaper 7
Tera Carleen Geyer, formerly known as Tera Dutchak, Dickinson, Chapter 7
Heath Alan Schaffer, LaMoure, Chapter 7
Nicholas Duane Noel, Fargo, Chapter 13
Jason Walter Lautt, Jamestown, Chapter 7
Bryan Lee Drinkman, Grand Forks, Chapter 7
Melia Kay Thompson, Grand Forks, Chapter 7
Roger Pelzer, Minot, Chapter 13
Jason Valentine and Amy Marie Keller, Bismarck, Chapter 13
Jaden Allen McGregor, Horace, Chapter 13
Rodney John and Jennifer Rebecca Brown, Williston, Chapter 13
Kayden Michelle Pavlicek, Dunn Center, Chapter 13
Minnesota
Bankruptcy filings from the following counties: Becker, Clay, Douglas, Grant, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Norman, Otter Tail, Polk, Traverse, Wadena and Wilkin.
Tyler Erick Nelson and Lisa Ann Nelson, formerly known as Lisa Costello, Dilworth, Chapter 13
Ethan Kenneth Edwards and Katherine Elizabeth Edwards, formerly known as Katherine Thornsburry, Park Rapids, Chapter 7
Amber Rae Durkin, formerly known as Amber O’Beirne, and James Robert Durkin, Bemidji, Chapter 13
Sierra Jade Ileene Isum, East Grand Forks, Chapter 7
Elizabeth Charlotte Smith, also known as Betsy Smith, Ogema, Chapter 7
Rebecca Lacey and Matthew Ian Angell, Alexandria, Chapter 7
Chapter 7 is a petition to liquidate assets and discharge debts.
Chapter 11 is a petition for protection from creditors and to reorganize.
Chapter 12 is a petition for family farmers to reorganize.
Chapter 13 is a petition for wage earners to readjust debts.
Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.
FARGO — Terri Hedman has voted in North Dakota elections for 40 years, but during the coronavirus pandemic, she said she made the switch to mail-in and absentee ballots.
She’s cast her ballot at her south Fargo home ever since, she said, adding she appreciates the ease of voting ahead of the election.
“I’m a nurse. I like to plan ahead, and I like to make sure things are done,” she said. “I love the idea that I can vote and know that is a task that is completed.”
Hedman was one of 91,556 North Dakota voters who cast their ballots by mail or absentee in the 2024 general election. That made up 25% of the state’s votes that year, according to a Forum analysis of Secretary of State’s Office data.
Troy Becker / The Forum
“Vote by mail is critical for North Dakota,” Secretary of State Michael Howe said. “As a rural state, people can be hours away from a physical polling location. Voting by mail gives folks that option to vote.”
Another 27% cast their ballots during early in-person voting, meaning less than half of North Dakota voters went to the polls on Election Day in November 2024.
Cody Schuler, an advocacy manager for the ACLU in North Dakota, said he wasn’t surprised that mail-in and absentee voting have become more popular. Voting by mail offers many benefits, and people have many reasons for using that method, he said.
“That’s fantastic that people are exercising their right in a way that is easy and convenient for them,” he said in response to the 2024 numbers.
Absentee ballots can be requested 40 days before an election in North Dakota. Under a state law passed in 2025, mail-in and absentee ballots must be received by the county election office no later than the close of polls on Election Day.
That’s June 9 for the primary election and Nov. 3 for the general election this year.
Nearly 36,000 mail-in and absentee ballots have been sent to North Dakota voters as of Thursday, May 28, with 17,705 returned to election officials, according to state data. The state has 600,394 eligible voters, Howe said.
Of the state’s 53 counties, 34 are classified as vote-by-mail, meaning those counties automatically send out an application to eligible voters for mail-in ballots.
In the remaining 19 counties, voters must request ballots by mail.
North Dakota’s voting by mail process is “very secure,” Howe said. Voters have to prove that they have lived in North Dakota for 30 days prior to the election.
No one is sent a ballot unless a person applies for one, Howe said.
“Similarly, you are only mailed a ballot after identity verification,” he said.
Some counties depended on mail-in and absentee ballots much more than others, according to the Forum analysis. In McHenry County, 2,001 voters used the remote option, making up 72% of the county’s voters. Rolette County had the lowest rate of voting by mail or absentee with 11%, followed by Morton County (12%) and Cass County (13%).
Voting in person can be challenging, Schuler and Howe said. North Dakota law requires each county to have at least one polling place during elections, Howe said.
Nearly half of North Dakota’s counties only have one voting center, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. Those polling places may be miles away, making it difficult for some to make it, Schuler said.
“We are a very rural state, and for many people, distance is an issue,” he said.
Eight counties allow early in-person voting up to two weeks before Election Day: Burleigh, Cass, Grand Forks, Morton, Sioux, Stark, Stutsman and Ward.
Early voting in Cass County runs 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. June 2-5 and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 6.
Nine of Cass County’s 17 Election Day polling places are in the metro area. A Cass County resident who lives near Colgate, which sits on the Steele County border, has to drive 30 miles to the nearest polling place in Tower City to vote.
McHenry County’s lone polling place is Towner, which is about 50 miles east of Minot. The polling place is roughly 60 miles from the county’s southwest corner and 40 miles from Anamoose, a city of 212 people in the county’s southeast corner.
Many counties can’t have early voting or more than one polling place because they can’t find enough poll workers, Howe said.
“Each county is responsible for the cost of their election,” he said, adding counties have to pay poll worker wages and rent for polling places.
Voting is a fundamental right, Schuler said.
“Eligible voters should have as many opportunities and options to exercise that right as possible,” he said. “Mail-in voting is really an easy way to do that.”
‘Confident that my voice is heard’
Mail-in ballot voting has grown in North Dakota over the last decade, from 52,319 ballots, or about 21% of voters, in the 2014 general election to almost double the number of voters in 2024, according to state data.
Minnesota’s growth in absentee and mail-in voting grew more dramatically. Nearly 244,000 people, or 12% of voters, used the option in the 2014 general election, according to The Forum’s analysis of Minnesota data. That jumped to 41%, or 1.33 million voters, in the 2024 general election.
Voting by mail in the North Star State has inched up over the years, with the high mark coming in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said. More than 1.93 million voters, or 59%, cast their ballots by mail, according to his office.
“I think it reflects our flexible menu of ways that people can vote in Minnesota,” Simon said. “I think people like that accessibility and choice.”
About 39% of Clay County voters mailed in their ballots in the 2024 general election, according to Minnesota Secretary of State data.
Minnesota law allows townships and cities with fewer than 400 residents to forgo setting up a polling place and hold elections entirely by mail, Simon noted. Towns like it for the cost-savings, and residents in rural areas like the option of voting from home instead of having to drive miles to a voting center, he said.
“That’s something that more and more cities and townships have taken advantage of as well,” he said of mail-in only elections. “It’s gotten good reviews from people who just want to be able to vote with ease in a way that makes sense for their own lives.”
North Dakota held its 2020 primary election completely by mail in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Roughly 160,000 voted in that election, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
Months later, more than 185,000 North Dakotans, or 51% of the state’s voters, cast their ballots by mail, according to state data.
“I think that opened up a lot of people to experience voting by mail for the first time,” Howe said. “I think people liked the comfort of it and liked the convenience of it.”
Overall, Howe said North Dakota does well at offering voting choices.
“That’s the beauty of North Dakota elections,” he said. “North Dakotans have the choice to vote in a way that is most convenient to them.”
As a nurse, Hedman said emergencies can happen, including on Election Day, that call her attention away from tasks at hand. Being able to plan ahead makes voting easier, she said.
“This way, I feel confident that my voice is heard,” she said.
More information on voting in North Dakota, including absentee voting, can be found at
sos.nd.gov/elections/voter
. Voters also can find Minnesota information at
sos.mn.gov/elections-voting
.
-
Augusta, GA3 minutes agoDocumentary premiere sheds light on Augusta homelessness, poverty
-
Washington, D.C10 minutes agoHow the Supreme Court is reshaping the US midterm elections
-
Cleveland, OH13 minutes ago1 dead, 1 in critical condition after Cleveland shooting: EMS
-
Austin, TX18 minutes agoTexas Baseball Proved It’s a Legit Contender In The Race To Omaha Against Tarleton State
-
Alabama25 minutes agoTennessee football will be chasing different teams for SEC supremacy | Adams
-
Alaska27 minutes agoReporting From Alaska- Elstun W. Lauesen II
-
Arizona33 minutes agoFederal immigration lawsuits reach record highs
-
Arkansas40 minutes agoArkansas’ best downtown | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
