About the Dairy Foundation
The Northeast Iowa Dairy Foundation is a nonprofit, grassroots organization born from the foresight and community concern of dairy farm families and related businesses who identified a need to retain young people in rural areas while bolstering the economic impact of dairy farms in northeast Iowa through education, demonstration and research.
In 2000, the foundation opened the one-of-a-kind Dairy Center that includes an educational facility and an operating dairy farm, a freestall-style barn with 250 cows. Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC), Iowa State University Extension and Midwest Dairy Association (MDA) partner with the foundation's Dairy Center. Students enrolled in the dairy program at the near-by NICC campus in Calmar receive their hands-on educational experience from the farm. The foundation impacts active dairy producers by hosting informational seminars through ISU Extension services.
As a community outreach and educational effort, the foundation has hosted over 10,000 area grade school children at the Dairy Center to learn about Iowa's Dairy Story, visit our museum and take an up-close look at how milk from our cows ends up on their school lunch tray. In 2010 the foundation hosted a Breakfast on the Farm which is held annually every June.
