Background & Mission

“I’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of great athletes and they all had one thing in common…a desire to work together as a team to achieve success. The Coalition is applying that same team approach to livestock farming.”

—Bill Fennelly, head coach, Iowa State University women’s basketball

The Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers was created by farmers in 2004 with the mission of working with farmers to advocate and help implement on-farm best-management practices that assist Iowa’s farm families in raising livestock responsibly and successfully.

The Coalition is a joint partnership involving the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association, Iowa Corn Growers Association, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, Iowa Pork Producers Association, Iowa Soybean Association, Iowa Turkey Federation and Midwest Dairy Association.

CSIF is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that provides assistance to farmers at no cost. It does not lobby or develop policy. Farm families wanting a helping hand can contact the Coalition at 1-800-932-2436.

The Coalition has assisted more than 1700 Iowa farm families to:

  • Follow all rules and regulations — there are hundreds of type-written, single-spaced pages applicable to most families who raise livestock
  • Choose good locations for new livestock farms that take into account the proximity of neighboring residences, towns, roads, parks, churches and other public use areas as well as topography and prevailing wind directions
  • Enhance relationships with neighbors by fostering better and more timely communication about the construction of new livestock farms, participating in community discussions and networking with members of the news media to discuss intentions about moving forward on new livestock farms
  • Safeguard air, soil and water quality by planting vegetative environmental buffers around new and existing farms and properly using manure as a nutrient resource to grow crops.