A new threat to Lake Winnipeg — from North Dakota

Winnipeg Free Press

22-05-2025

Opinion
Massive dairy concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) being permitted and proposed in North Dakota are a threat to our waterways, including Lake Winnipeg and the groundwater which many people rely upon to drink.
More than half of the phosphorus load, the cause of algal blooms in Lake Winnipeg, enters Manitoba's waterways from upstream jurisdictions. Two-thirds of this is from the Red River alone.
The International Joint Commission (IJC), under The Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, established joint nutrient loading targets in October 2022. The Red River nutrient target recommendation for phosphorus was set at 1,400 tonnes per year. But Manitoba's recent report on nutrient levels through 2023 shows that an average 2,500 tonnes of phosphorus per year is coming from the U.S. through the Red River. That is nearly double the phosphorus loading targets set by the IJC.
The Canadian Press
Netley Creek and the Red River enter Lake Winnipeg just north of Winnipeg. The Red River and Lake Winnipeg are facing new pollution threats from huge new North Dakota corporate dairy operations.
Since the 1930s, North Dakota had one of the most progressive anti-corporate farming laws in the U.S., intended to keep North Dakota lands in the hands of working family farmers. This legislation had been gradually weakened over the years.
In 2023, then-governor Douglas Burgum, now Trump's secretary of the interior, encouraged changing the law to allow for corporations to become partners in animal agriculture operations.
This has opened the door for corporate investment in North Dakota and, in particular, eastern North Dakota within the Red River Valley, now identified as a prime area of interest for the establishment of CAFOs.
Riverview LLP, a large dairy/cattle agribusiness based out of Minnesota, is in the process of expanding into North Dakota with two new CAFOs.
The Abercrombie Dairy received permits from North Dakota to start construction of a 12,500-head milking cow operation near Wahpeton in January 2025. The Dakota Resource Council and nearby residents filed an appeal of the state permit in February, citing concerns about water quality, but unfortunately the appeal was dismissed on technical grounds.
The Herberg Dairy is another proposed 25,000-head milking operation near Hillsboro, N.D., which is in the initial regulatory/permitting stage. Public comments are being accepted until June 2. No permitting decisions regarding Herberg Dairy have yet been made.
The size of these massive dairy operations is concerning. Just two new CAFOs will add 37,500 more cows.
To put the size of these operations in perspective, at present Manitoba has around 45,000 milk cows, supporting about 240 farms in the entire province. North Dakota currently has around 8,900 milk cows supporting about 24 dairy farms across the state. These two CAFOs will more than quadruple the number of milking cows in North Dakota, and add nearly as many milking cows in the Red River watershed as there are in all of Manitoba.
They will also produce massive amounts of animal excrement, comparable to a city with a population of 1.5 million people. To deal with all this manure, these CAFOs will store the manure and wastewater in lagoons the size of 62 American football fields (52 Canadian football fields). Once a year, they pour this manure slurry on agricultural fields as fertilizer.
These dairies are within 1.5 miles from the Red River or one of its tributaries. The Red River valley south of the border floods, just like here.
Heavy rains, storms in CAFO rich areas like Iowa and North Carolina have caused serious manure releases into neighboring water bodies.
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A weekly dispatch from the head of the Free Press newsroom.
Sound familiar? This is how Manitoba's intensive hog industry manages their waste, and we know where the nutrient hot spots are located within southeastern Manitoba, a.k.a. Hog Alley.
What could possibly go wrong? Dr. John Ikerd, professor emeritus of agricultural economics and author of numerous books on sustainable agriculture, said it best: 'piling up too much stuff in one place, causes problems.'
Too much manure on the same parcels of land year after year after year leads to the accumulation of nutrients and other contaminants (such as phosphorus, nitrogen, antibiotics, viruses, bacteria, hormones and heavy metals). In sandy to loamy soils, this waste escapes downward to the aquifer, contaminating the groundwater. In clayey soils — a good part of the Red River valley — the excess contaminants run off during wet periods contaminating waterways and contributing to algal blooms in Lake Winnipeg.
These huge dairy farms need to be stopped. Canada should refer the issue of these new CAFOs to the IJC to provide recommendations to resolve this transboundary water issue. Governments need to support regenerative agriculture, and phase out industrial factory farming production systems. Small farms that use straw rather than manure slurry pits are better for people, animals, and the planet.
James Beddome is the executive director of the Manitoba Eco-Network and was raised on a mixed livestock family farm in the Little Saskatchewan river valley in western Manitoba. Dr. Madeline Luke is a volunteer with the Dakota Resource Council. She is a retired internal medicine doctor from Valley City, North Dakota. Glen Koroluk is the former executive director of the Manitoba Eco-Network, and former spokesperson for Beyond Factory Farming.