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Mega Barns Along the US Border Cause a Big Stink in Manitoba

Two North Dakota dairies will house nearly the same number of cows as the entire province. That’s a lot of manure

To be a “good neighbor and a responsible steward of shared resources” is a noble aspiration for anyone, though a claim that sits awkwardly near the border between North Dakota and Manitoba. Riverview, the Minnesota-based agricultural company that made the statement, is set to test the goal as it adds to its network of mega dairies by building two facilities along the North Dakotan stretch of the Red River before it flows north into Canada. One barn, near Hillsboro, will contain 25,000 head of cattle; the other, outside Abercrombie, will house 12,500. Together, the two will contain nearly the same number of producing dairy cows as the entire province of Manitoba (and will more than quadruple North Dakota’s quantity).

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The International Joint Commission is currently reviewing the potential environmental effects of the project

US–Canada coordination has been successful in the past, but both sides have to accept mutual environmental responsibilities

The construction of these barns, slated to open in 2027, is of great concern on both sides of the Canada–United States border, particularly with regard to manure and where to put it. Activists say the barns are expected to produce the equivalent surface area of fifty Canadian football fields in waste—some 1,179,295 cubic metres of slurry. Riverview’s official disposal proposal for the effluent—to use it as fertilizer for the fields surrounding the barns—has been met with skepticism from environmental groups in Manitoba and North Dakota alike.

“We’re certain that there’s going to be a fair amount of phosphorus and nitrogen, as well as other contaminants, that run off and get into the Red River and get into Lake Winnipeg,” says Vicki Burns, a volunteer with the Manitoba Eco-Network (MbEN) and director of the Save Lake Winnipeg Project, who is working in opposition to Riverview’s mega barns. The phosphorus and nitrogen provide food for blue-green algae, which produces deadly toxins. “It is a serious health threat to any living things that are reliant on that water,” she says.

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