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
North Dakota
The Democratic Spirit: Reflections on North Dakota History and the Declaration of Independence at 250 – America250
A state and national public forum comprising a lecture, and then a question-answer session. Kwame Anthony Appiah’s lecture commemorates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and explore its enduring significance in American life. Appiah’s scholarship on ethics, identity, and cosmopolitanism offers a unique lens for examining democratic ideals in a diverse society. By connecting these themes to North Dakota’s historical narrative, the forum fosters civic engagement, intellectual discourse, and cultural understanding within our community.
FARGO — Drivers can expect to see a slight uptick in gas prices as a result of the Iran conflict.
As of Monday, March 2, the average for North Dakota is $2.65 a gallon. While that is a $0.13 increase from a month ago, it is significantly lower than prices a year ago.
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GRAND FORKS – The Study ND, formerly Humanities North Dakota, has received $15,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts for a statewide theater and humanities initiative in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
This commemorative investment is meant to bring historical events and figures – such as the framers of the U.S. Constitution – to life through virtual and live performances that celebrate the nation’s history.
The grant, along with funding from private sources, has made it possible for The Study ND to host “America 250” activities after the organization sustained a considerable cut in funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities last year, according to Brenna Gerhardt, The Study ND executive director.
“We absorbed a 50% budget cut, resulting in a loss of $467,645 in funding,” Gerhardt said. “As a result, we had to significantly scale back our American 250 initiatives focused on American history and civics education.”
Funds received from the National Endowment for the Arts will be used to present public readings, theatrical portrayals and guided discussions to encourage audience members to reflect on the nation’s founding in 1776 and on its democratic ideals, while engaging in contemporary conversations about civic life.
All of the programming in the series organized by The Study ND, titled “American Heroes,” will be livestreamed statewide.
In the grant application submitted to the National Endowment for the Arts, “we framed the project around a simple idea: democracy requires more than information, it requires citizens who can think historically, listen well, and argue in good faith,” Gerhardt said.
“This series uses living history performances to bring consequential figures into the room, then turns the room into a civic space through moderated dialogue and related public events. We define ‘heroism’ as civic courage under pressure, the willingness to contend with hard truths, and the capacity to enlarge a community’s moral imagination,” she said.
“The project does not ask audiences to agree on a single interpretation of a figure. It invites them to grapple with complexity together, and to connect the past to the responsibilities of the present.”
When Gerhardt and her colleagues received the application for grant proposals from the National Endowment for the Arts, “we were already planning a line-up of America 250 events and it fit perfectly with what we were already planning, so then we just wrote the grant,” she said.
Private funds, including matching funds from the Bismarck-based Tom and Frances Leach Foundation, have also been provided for this project.
Details about all the events will probably be posted on the website
www.TheStudyND.org
in March, Gerhardt said.
The America 250 events, which are planned to take place at Bismarck State College, are 5-6 p.m. July 8, “Reading of the Declaration of Independence, with John Adams,” and 6-7:30 p.m. July 9, “Alexander Hamilton Speaks,” both performed by William Chrystal.
The Living History programs are planned for 7-8:15 p.m. Sept. 17, “Thomas Paine,” performed by Doug Mishler, and Oct. 6, 7-8:15 p.m, “Frederick Douglass,” performed by Nathan Richardson. Both will be moderated by Susan Frontczak.
The performers Chrystal and Richardson live in Virginia, Frontczak in Colorado,and Mishler in Nevada.
Another program, “Hemingway and Gellhorn,” is set for Sept. 16-18 at Bismarck State College, Gerhardt said. “It is part of our broader Chautauqua/living history programming connected to America 250 … (and) will feature performances and discussion centered on Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, using their lives and writing as a way to explore major questions about American identity, war reporting, public memory, and the stories we tell about freedom, conflict and responsibility.
“What I am excited about with this event is that it gives us a way to approach America 250 beyond founding-era material. In other words, it helps us show the American story is not just about 1776, but also about the generations that followed and how Americans wrestled with democracy, power, truth and moral courage.”
This program “expands the initiative beyond commemoration into reflection, dialogue and interpretation, which is where the humanities are especially valuable,” she said. “It helps us reach audiences who may be drawn in through literature, journalism and performance, not only traditional history events.”
The Hemingway and Gellhorn program fits in with America 250 in that “it broadens the frame and adds depth to the larger effort.”
Gerhardt is hoping that these activities will give participants “a better understanding of all the debates and issues going on when our country was founded, and how those debates are continuing today,” she said, “and just to be more thoughtful and informed citizens.”
College students and members of the general public will also be invited to participate in a workshop aimed at teaching participants how to build a living history performance from primary sources and historical research.
Last year, The Study ND lost a substantial amount of funding – nearly $468,000, about half of its annual budget – from the National Endowment for the Humanities for its fiscal 2025 year.
The loss of that much funding was discouraging, Gerhardt said. “Very much so, because we had a lot of activities planned for America 250 and we had to cancel a lot of them, or – like in this case – seek other funding, which we were lucky to get.”
The Study ND currently has four full-time employees, she said. “We eliminated a part-time marketing position after the cuts.”
A nonprofit organization, The Study ND provides civics, arts and cultural education programming. The organization’s programs – which include online classes, book talks, lectures and more – reached about 24,000 people in 2024, Gerhardt told the North Dakota Monitor in April 2025.
During the summer, the organization hosts a civics education program for high school and middle school social studies teachers, she said.
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