WINTER 2000
|
In this issue • Task force takes on youth and family issues • Des Moines Initiative offers new learning opportunities • Fight fire with fire -- for better firefighter training • Journey into new agriculture ventures • CIRAS works on quality control in agriculture • "Speaking of skin cancer" -- A cooperative success • Conferences examine transitions in agriculture
Previous issues |
Dairy laboratory is "center of excellence" There's a center of excellence for value-added agriculture in northeast Iowa, thanks to a unique partnership between a citizens group, a community college and Iowa State University. The Northeast Iowa Community-Based Dairy Foundation, a grassroots citizens group, will build a new dairy education, research and demonstration laboratory near Calmar. The foundation is partnering with North Iowa Community College (NICC) and ISU through extension, the colleges of agriculture and veterinary medicine, and the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station.
"This is at the center of our economic development strategy," Gov. Tom Vilsack said in November when he proclaimed the dairy laboratory a center of excellence. "Value-added agriculture has got to be a critical component" in any future economic development initiative. He said the state is committed to the dairy laboratory initiative and would provide "significant and substantial" financial assistance. "There is legislative support for this," he said. "This is a great project" that marries the state's educational strengths to its agricultural strengths. The dairy laboratory will help NICC and ISU train the next generation of dairy entrepreneurs. "This facility is to train and educate people whether they will milk 40 cows or 10,000," said dairy foundation president Dennis Mashek, Calmar.
NICC president Robert Denson said they expect to have 100 students per year in the program. It will offer technical dairy programs using hands-on instruction for secondary, post-secondary and adult education, according to Paul Brown, ISU Extension northeast area education director. In addition, the laboratory will conduct site-specific applied research and demonstrations in dairy and forage production and other topics relevant to northeast Iowa. The dairy foundation purchased the site for the dairy laboratory, a 156-acre farm adjacent to NICC-owned farmland, Mashek said. Excavation and site preparation began in fall 1999, with a groundbreaking ceremony in mid-November. The building design by Brickl Brothers Inc., West Salem, Wis., incorporates an education complex, a modern dairy parlor and a free stall barn for nearly 150 cows. Construction is set to begin in March 2000, and the first cows will be milked there in September 2000, Denson said. "People ask me why I've become so involved in this project," Mashek said. "This will help the next generation make transitions in the dairy business, apply new technology, increase income to meet family living demands and maintain an acceptable quality of life." According to Brown, a fundraising campaign in the 17 northeast Iowa counties could raise $500,000 to $1 million. The total price tag for the project is $4.1 million, Denson said. Several sizable donations have been collected already. "I want to congratulate all the local partners that have
been involved in the initiative," Vilsack said. The
initiative is "absolutely value-added" and "obviously
supported" at the grass roots, he noted. |
