As Dairy Farms Grow Bigger,

New Concerns About Pollution

Dairy operations in the U.S. are consolidating, with ever-larger numbers of
cows concentrated on single farms. In states like Wisconsin, opposition to
some large operations is growing after manure spills and improper
handling of waste have contaminated waterways and aquifers.
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The slogan on Wisconsins license plate Americas Dairyland

celebrates the states number one agricultural activity and iconic status as a
milk and cheese producer. What it doesnt reveal is how dramatically the
dairy industry in Wisconsin and in other parts of the United States has been
changing, or the environmental concerns those changes pose.

While milk carton imagery pictures bucolic, small farms, more than 50
percent of U.S. milk is now produced by just 3 percent of the countrys
dairies those with more than 1,000 cows, according to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA). The very largest U.S. dairies now have

David Silverman/Getty Images

More than half of U.S. milk is produced by 3 percent of dairies.

15,000 or more cows.

With this increased concentration of milking cows comes a corresponding

concentration of manure production. And what happens to this manure is
at the heart of the pollution issues surrounding the dairy industry.
In Wisconsin, several dairy operations are now facing opposition to plans to
expand their herds. Porous karst soils in the parts of Wisconsin where a
significant portion of dairy expansion is occurring present some unique
environmental issues. Run-off from dairy farms and other agricultural
activities has seeped into aquifers and elevated levels of nitrogen, in some
instances to unsafe concentrations; in one recent case, the Wisconsin
Department of Justice levied a $65,000 fine against a dairy operation for
contaminating groundwater.

Neighbors of Kinnard Farms dairy, located in the Kewaunee County town of

Lincoln an area of karst soils are now in court challenging the states
approval of a permit that would allow the dairy to expand its herd from
4,000 to more than 6,000 milking cows. About 50 percent of the towns
private wells currently have water that exceeds bacteria or nitrate safety
standards. Residents opposing the DNR permit contend that it lacks
sufficient information about how the dairy will manage the tens of millions
of gallons of liquid manure its cows will produce.

U.S. farm consolidation is nothing new, but recent changes in the dairy
industry are transforming the business in ways that are increasingly
worrisome to regulators, residents, and environmental groups. Wisconsin
The number of U.S. dairy operations with
2,000 or more cows has grown faster than
those of any other size.
embodies this consolidation trend. State Department of Natural Resources
(DNR) figures show the number of Wisconsin dairy farms with more than
500 cows grew by about 150 percent in the past decade. At the same time,
the overall number of dairy farms dropped by about a third, just as they
have nationwide. The number of U.S. dairy operations with 2,000 or more
cows has grown faster than those of any other size as milk production has
increased about 20 percent.

According to the EPA, a 2,000-cow dairy generates more than 240,000

pounds of manure daily or nearly 90 million pounds a year. The USDA
estimates that the manure from 200 milking cows produces as much
nitrogen as sewage from a community of 5,000 to 10,000 people.

This year and last, Wisconsin has fined several dairy operations for manure
spills and manure runoff. According to an analysis by the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel, in 2013 a record number of manure spills more than 1
million gallons worth were recorded in Wisconsin. The newspaper
reported that from 2007 to 2013, the state experienced an average of 15
manure spills annually from dairy farms. Roughly a third of those spills
came from large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs.

Wisconsin, says Clean Wisconsin staff attorney Elizabeth Wheeler, has a

nitrate problem.

Wisconsin is hardly alone in grappling with this problem. Similar pollution

issues primarily from spills related to manure storage have been
cropping up across the country. Some recent cases include:

o In February, in Michigans Allegan County, a stormwater system

failure at a dairy with a 1-million-gallon manure lagoon spilled manure
into nearby waterways, creating a visible plume five miles long.
o In Yakima, Washington, the Community Association for Restoration
of the Environment and the Center for Food Safety allege in an ongoing
lawsuit now in federal court that manure spreading by five

An industry spokesman says a dairys

size does not determine how well its
environmental impacts are managed.
large dairies has caused nitrate and other contamination of groundwater
and violates the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA). The plaintiffs contend that the way the manure is being applied
is the equivalent of dumping solid waste, an activity covered by RCRA
that has not previously been applied to manure spreading. The dairies
filed a motion this month to dismiss the charges.
o In Canton, Minnesota, a wall on an above-ground manure storage
tank broke last April, spilling roughly 1 million gallons of manure.

In one of the larger cases of manure pollution in recent years, an

estimated 15 million gallons of manure, water, and other matter spilled in
2010 into a slough that drains into the Snohomish River in Washington
state, when a berm on a dairy farms manure lagoon failed.

Erin Fitzgerald, senior vice president for sustainability at the Innovation

Center for US Dairy, a trade group, says a dairys size does not determine
how well its environmental impacts are managed. William Matthews,
Oregon Department of Agriculture CAFO program manager, concurs.
There are stellar operators of all sizes, he says.
Fitzgeralds organization stresses the need for nutrient and water quality
management plans tailored for each operation, and says dairy is one of the
most regulated and inspected industries in agriculture. She also touts the
industrys voluntary commitment to best practices and improving its
environmental footprint, including its 2008 commitment to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent.

Milking cows, explains the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),

produce more manure than beef cattle and the Holsteins that dominate the
U.S. dairy industry produce almost twice as much manure as Jerseys. Cows
that give more milk per cow also produce more manure and per-cow milk
production has almost doubled since the 1970s.

Historically, dairies dealt with manure by applying it to fields as fertilizer,

as many do today. But as dairy herds have grown, a single farm often has
more manure than it can use at any one time. Excess is typically stored in
lagoons. When it comes to the environmental impacts of concentrated
dairy operations, it all comes down to manure management, says Kendra
Weve kind of taken Mother Nature out of
the picture, says the manager of a large
dairy farm.
Kimbirauskas, board director of Friends of Family Farmers.

Questions about manure management have prompted opposition to a

number of Wisconsin dairy operations plans for large or expanded herds.
One of these farms is Burr Oak Heifers, located in Wisconsins Central
Sands region, an area known for its porous souls. Burr Oak Heifers is
seeking a Wisconsin DNR permit to house 3,100 cows, which are expected
to produce an estimated 3.32 million gallons of liquid manure and 45,900
tons of solid manure annually. In 2013, the farm, operating under a
different business name, was fined $65,000 by the state for contaminating
groundwater, including private well water. The permit now up for approval
would grant the farm an exception to Wisconsins groundwater nitrate
concentration limit of 10 parts per million (ppm) and permit its nitrate
discharge at 28 ppm.

Clean Wisconsins Wheeler calls the proposed nitrate discharge exemption

unprecedented. The DNR explains that the exemption is based on
background levels of nitrate present in groundwater coming onto the site
from other sources, and that the permit will require groundwater
monitoring and a nutrient management plan designed to control manure
storage and how and when manure is spread on fields. The goal of such
plans include preventing application of more nutrients than a farms soil
can absorb and making sure its applied when it wont easily run off, as in
winter when the ground is frozen.

Wheeler notes that dairies have typically spread manure on their own fields
to fertilize forage and other crops or contracted with other farms to do so.
On small farms, the ratio of cows to pasture land generally allows for a
sustainable nitrogen balance. But the majority of U.S. dairy herds are
confined to barns throughout their entire lives and shuttle between stalls
and milking parlors in enclosed corrals and corridors and eat silage and
grain grown elsewhere. Weve kind of taken Mother Nature out of the
Lack of measures to prevent manure spills
is one reason a New York group opposes
easing regulations.
picture, says John Haarsma, manager of Rickreall Dairy, an Oregon
operation with 3,500 cows.

In excess, manures nutrients largely nitrogen and phosphorus can

create problems. Too much in surface water can create algae blooms that
result in hypoxic or oxygen-deprived dead zones According to the EPA,
excess nutrients from agriculture, including chemical fertilizers and dairy
manure, are a major source of water pollution across the US.

In Wisconsin, explains DNR hydrogeologist Bill Phelps, about 10 percent of

all private wells exceed the states nitrate water quality standard. In areas of
high agricultural activity where fertilizer use is high, this percentage rises to
about 30 percent, said Phelps.

Manure also contains pathogens that may include E.coli and other fecal
coliforms. In addition, manure often contains pharmaceuticals
antibacterials and hormones given to many dairy cows to fight disease
and promote growth. Some of Kewaunee Countys wells have tested
positively for estrogenic, endocrine disrupting compounds. The source has
not been pinpointed, but numerous studies suggest that CAFOs, through
their use of pesticides and hormones, are a
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source of some estrogenic compounds that enter U.S. drinking water.

In New York, now the countrys third-largest milk producing state, dairy
expansion has also become an environmental issue. An ongoing lawsuit is
challenging a 2013 regulation change that would increase the size of dairies
allowed to operate without a nutrient management plan from 199 to 299
cows. Environmental advocates say the New York Department of
Environmental Conservation failed to consider environmental impacts. It
was made for economic reasons, to support the states booming Greek
yogurt industry, says Rivekeeper staff attorney Michael Dulong.

Lack of measures to prevent catastrophic manure spills is among the

reasons Environmental Advocates of New York policy director Katherine
Nadeau gives for her organizations opposition to this regulation change.
She cites a 2005 incident in which 3 million gallons of manure spilled from
a New York dairy into a nearby river, killing thousands of fish.

One day this winter, I visited one of the dwindling number of smaller U.S.
dairies Double J Jerseys, a 200-cow dairy operation in Oregons
Willamette Valley. As I arrived cows munched clover in the barnyard, near
the Bansens front door. Jon Bansen, a third-generation dairy farmer who
produces milk for the Organic Valley co-op, said that the ratio of cows to
pasture on smaller farms leads to a sustainable nitrogen balance. The
steady rise of large-scale dairy operations, he said, has been fueled by
cheap fuel and cheap feed, adding, More is not always better.

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Elizabeth Grossman is the author of Chasing Molecules: Poisonous

Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry, High Tech
Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health, and other