Large Minnesota dairy co‑op asks legislature for $10 million to complete Litchfield wastewater digester; warns of production cuts

First District Association, a Minnesota dairy cooperative that represents hundreds of family farms, asked the House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee on Wednesday for state help to complete a wastewater pretreatment and digester project at its Litchfield processing plant, saying a failure to finish the work could force a substantial scale‑back of production.

"We are the largest dairy processing plant in the state of Minnesota," said Bob Hoffman, president and CEO of First District Association. Hoffman told the committee his cooperative represents roughly 570 family‑owner farms across 46 counties and moves about 8.5 million pounds of milk per day — about 3 billion pounds per year — into processing.

Hoffman described a multi‑year cooperative investment to modernize the Litchfield plant, including upgrades tied to wastewater capacity. The cooperative began a project to add on‑site pretreatment and an anaerobic digester on city land in partnership with the city of…