NICC Board agrees to take possession of Northeast Iowa Dairy Center property

The transfer of the Northeast Iowa Community-Based Dairy Foundation's assets to Northeast Iowa Community College is nearly complete.   

The NICC Board of Trustees has scheduled a public hearing on the proposal on Monday, April 18th.  Under the proposal, the Dairy Foundation will transfer their assets to NICC and NICC will assume the Foundation's debt and lease the Dairy Center farm back to the Foundation.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the partnership and opening of the Dairy Center. Since that time, this partnership has made many great strides and the resulting state-of-the-art facilities have been a tremendous asset to NICC's dairy science and agriculture programs, which have grown from 25 students in 2000 to nearly 150 today.

However, record low milk prices coupled with high input costs and the loss of federal funding have forced the Dairy Foundation to make changes so that it can continue to serve the dairy industry well into the future.

NICC and Dairy Foundation officials say the new agreement will allow the partnership to continue to grow while addressing the financial challenges that exist.

Dairy Foundation president Jed Becker said, "The goal is to have the foundation continue as is with as little disruption as possible and still meet our mission of enhancing and growing the dairy industry through people by providing education, demonstration and research."

The Dairy Center milks 220 cows consisting of Holsteins, Brown Swiss, Jerseys, Ayrshires and crossbreeds.  Dairy Center Chair of Operations Dave Lawstuen said he is cautiously optimistic that the farm should end this fiscal year June 30th with a positive $300,000 on a cash basis.