North Dakota Mega-Dairy: Threat to Animals & Environment

Animal Justice is working with organizations from Canada and the US to oppose two proposed North Dakota mega-dairy operations. Together, these facilities would confine 37,500 cows and could cause massive amounts of pollution in Manitoba. This would put the Red River and Lake Winnipeg at serious risk. Lake Winnipeg, in particular, will suffer the downstream impacts of the manure run-off that enters the Red River or one of its tributaries in North Dakota. The farms are within 1.5 miles of these important bodies of water. These large-scale, industrialized facilities are expected to generate as much sewage waste as a city of 1.5 million people. Unlike a city, they will have no municipal sewage treatment infrastructure.

Urgent action is needed. The Abercrombie Dairy has already received permission to construct a facility for 12,500 cows. In June, the Dakota Resource Council—together with the Manitoba Eco-Network, Save Lake Winnipeg Project, Food & Water Watch, and the Environmental Law & Policy Center—called on North Dakota’s Department of Environmental Quality to reject a proposed 25,000-cow operation in Hillsboro, ND. They argue the Herberg Dairy permit is unlawful. It also lacks the information needed to show the operation will meet water quality standards.

One Health: The connection between animal well-being and environmental health 

Animal Justice is deeply-concerned about the operation of these North Dakota mega-dairy facilities. They pose serious risks to the health of our waters and ecosystems, as well as the animals that depend on them. They will also subject thousands of cows to intensive confinement and extreme suffering. Winnipeg-based lawyer Kaitlyn Mitchell, Animal Justice’s director of legal advocacy, emphasized the dangers of these operations. She explained:

Transboundary water pollution threats

Storing the vast quantities of manure and wastewater from these operations would require lagoons the size of 52 Canadian football fields. This “manure slurry” is then spread on agricultural fields once a year as fertilizer. The practice puts nearby waterways at serious risk of runoff. Lake Winnipeg is already at a tipping point from years of cumulative pollution, especially from Manitoba’s pig farming industry. 

The buildup of manure over time causes nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen to accumulate, along with contaminants such as antibiotics, bacteria, and hormones. When snow melts and rain falls, excess nutrients and contaminants not absorbed by crops run off into the Red River. From there, they ultimately cross into Canada through Lake Winnipeg. Phosphorus and nitrogen fuel blue-green algae blooms in the lake, which pose serious health threats to aquatic life, animals, and humans.

Allowing these operations to proceed would hinder commitments to protect the environment. In 2022, Canada and the United States, under the Boundary Waters Treaty, agreed to nutrient loading targets recommended by the International Joint Commission (IJC). The phosphorus target was set at 1,400 tonnes per year. This requires a 45% reduction from current levels. The new operations would make reaching this goal virtually impossible.

Urgent action needed to protect animals and the environment

These two facilities are among thousands of industrialized animal agriculture facilities worldwide that continue to pollute the environment and exploit farmed animals. The animal agricultural industry is a leading source of greenhouse gas emissions, intense land use, and pollution of our waters. Additionally, the majority of dairy cows endure heartbreaking suffering and some of the worst abuse in industrial factory farms, which prioritize profits over animal well-being. 

We will continue working with the coalition to urge federal and provincial officials to raise these issues with their US counterparts. If needed, we will also press them to refer the matter to the IJC. This step is vital to protect Canada’s waterways now and into the future.