official newsletter of the Kansas State University International Grains Program

INTERNATIONALG R A I N SFiscal Year 2007 Fourth Quarter April, May and June 2007 Volume 9 Issue 4

O’Neil attends grain purchasing

workshop in Egypt

IGP conducts flour milling course

Jay O’Neil traveled to Egypt to take part in the U.S. Grain Purchas-ing Workshop for the Grain Board of Iraq. It was held from May 29 to June 1. The workshop was sponsored by FAS and U.S. Wheat in Cairo, Egypt. The objective of the workshop was to ‘increase familiarity with U.S. origin wheat and rice; better understanding of the aggregate “package” offered by U.S. origin wheat and rice includ-ing crop quality, government services, technical services and sophisticated trading structures’. The goal of the workshop was ‘to improve the perfor-mance of the Grain Board of Iraq to tender, award contracts and take receipt of U.S. wheat and rice. There were 24 members of the Iraqi Grain Board, 7 USDA members and about 10 speak-ers at the workshop. O’Neil spoke on various topics including grain trade terminology, market analysis principles and alternative contracting methods.

Howard, Fowler attend U.S. Wheat

board meeting

Two participants, Nabil Mahjoub from Tunisia (left) and Maira Jordan Herrera from Chile (right), look at a tray of soybeans at Lawrence and Betty Strouts’ farm in Wilsey, Kans. The two were part of the flour milling short course at IGP from June 4 to 15. There were nine participants from eight different countries. The flour milling short course offered a combination of classroom lectures, tours to the Cargill grain elevator and the Kansas City Board of Trade, hands-on experience in the baking lab at Shellenberger Hall and a tour of the new Hal Ross flour mill.

K-State and Buhler Inc. team together for advanced milling course

at IGP Mark Fowler, director of techni-cal services at IGP, and John Howard, director of IGP, traveled to Kalispell, Mont. for the U.S. Wheat board meet-ing on June 30 to July 1. Howard attended the IGP advisory board meet-ing to discuss activities and strategies for the future of IGP. Fowler attended wheat quality, SPS and food aid com-mittee meetings. Fowler said, “Mar-keting efforts for U.S. wheat is more important than ever as world wheat supply is at 30-year lows and the qual-ity of wheat is lower than past years.”

K-State and Buhler Inc. joined together for a training course titled “Ad-vanced Milling Course: General Plant Operation” from April 16-20. The five-day course was held at IGP and at the new Hal Ross flour mill. The milling course was co-taught by KSU milling science instructors and Wolfgang Gruber. Gruber is the manager of the Buhler Training Center in Uzwil, Switzerland. Buhler is a company which is a ‘global technology partner for the food industry, chemical processing and die casting’. The group consisted of 13 participants from 10 dif-ferent companies around the U.S. The course was well suited for head millers and experienced mill operatives. It included a combination of classroom discussions and hands-on training at the flour mill. Topics covered included wheat cleaning, conditioning, milling machines, the flour milling process and ensuring consistent flour quality. Participants learned the influence of wheat cleaning on finished product quality, the influence of various tempering times on flour yield and ash content and the differences in flowsheets between hard wheat and soft wheat.

23 attend grain elevator manager’s course

The very first grain elevator manager’s course was very successful at IGP. Carl Reed, the grain storage specialist for IGP conducted a five-day course from May 21 to 25 aimed toward students in technical colleges on two-year programs and current employees of grain elevators. There were 23 participants in the course from manag-ers of coops to production supervisors of Cargill, Inc. In total, there were 11 different companies represented. The group listened to classroom discussions about grain quality, equipment management, shipping and receiving, grain drying practices, grain condition monitoring, inventory management and aeration strategies. The students in the course were expected to know certain concepts before they attended the class. They were also required to take tests on the subjects and write a plan to use the most cost-effective practices for each elevator operation. Reed says he intends to have two separate courses every year – one in January and one in May. This course is especially helpful to those in two-year programs as an intersession class. The cost of the course is $1,000 and includes textbook and all instructional material, three lunches, and certificate of comple-tion. Reed expects a good turnout for the second grain elevator manager’s course.

K-State International Grains Program

2007 Short Courses

Extrusion August 7-10

ASA China Feed TeamAugust 20-24

FSA Flour MillingAugust 28-30

Extension Flour Milling Sept. 18-20

Feed Manufacturing Sept. 24-Oct. 5

USDA Cochran Oct. 22-Nov. 2

Visit www.ksu.edu/igp for more information and additional listings.

IGP conducts annual grain purchasing short course

The grain purchasing short course at the International Grains Program Executive Center was from April 16 to 27 this year. There were seven participants from four different countries for the two-week course. During the course, the participants listened to various industry professionals on topics such as the U.S. marketing system, inspection service, ocean freight, contracting and negotiation, and current agricultural practices. While in Manhattan, the participants took a tour of the BIVAP building. The group left for tours on April 21 to Lawrence Strouts’ farm in Wilsey, Kans. and went on to Kansas City, Kans. for tours of the Federal Grain Inspection Service and the Kansas City Board of Trade. While at the KCBOT, the participants had the opportunity to have Jeffrey Borchardt, president of KCBOT, give them a presentation about the business of trading. The last opportunity the group had was to tour DeBruce Grain, a coop in Abilene, Kans.

Pictured above are the participants from the Grain Elevator Manager’s Course.

Carl Reed helps a participant with grain grading during the grain purchasing short course at IGP.

U.S. Wheat facilitates flour milling short couse at IGP

U.S. Wheat conducted a flour milling short course at IGP from April 26 to May 4. There were 13 participants from China and Taiwan. The participants started the course in Kansas City, Mo. with a tour of General Mills, Federal Grain Inspection Technical Services Center, and the Kansas City Board of Trade. The group had the opportunity to observe the trading and to ask questions to the president of KCBOT, Jeffrey Borchardt. After Kansas City, Mo. they traveled west to Topeka, Kans. for a tour of the Cargill Grain Terminal. On Monday, April 30, the classroom activities commenced at the International Grains Program Executive Conference Center in Manhattan, Kans. U.S. Wheat organized many presenters to give lectures to the 13 participants about various flour milling aspects including wheat types and uses, quality management, conditioning wheat, blending practices and preventative maintenance practices. Mark Fowler, Kendall McFall and Dale Eustace gave the majority of the presentations. The participants also had many other tours of the BIVAP building, Shellenberger Hall and the American Institute of Baking. They traveled back to Overland Park, Kans. for the IAOM Inter-national Trade Show and Conference. Many of the participants enjoyed the course and U.S. Wheat received positive feedback. One participant from Taiwan, William Tsai from the U.S. Wheat office in Taiwan, said, “I acquired much more knowledge of wheat, flour quality and mill technol-ogy due to the new flour mill, IGP and the flour lab. This knowledge adds positive value to my job.” Mark Lyons, a U.S. Wheat milling consultant from Hong Kong was thankful for the visit in terms of the ad-ditional locations they were able to visit as well as their time at IGP.

Above left: Hsiang-Hsuan Hsu, Taiwan performs a sifting step for a labratory milling exercise. Fowler and McFall attend IAOM

meetings in Kansas CityO’Neil visits Guatemala The U.S. Grains Council invited Jay O’Neil to meet with the largest poultry and hog processing company in Guatemala to discuss grain contracting and shipping is-sues with them in particular and the U.S. The purpose of the trip was to meet with ALIANSA to provide them with assistance with their questions and concerns about grain contracting and shipment. O’Neil was in Guatemala from June 17 to 21.

O’Neil travels to the Philippines and Singapore for

ASA conference Jay O’Neil traveled to conduct grain shipping conferences in Manila, the Philippines and Singapore from June 24 to 30. O’Neil was invited by ASA to speak on various topics for an agricultural industry update at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Manila. O’Neil presented two Pow-erPoint presentations in each country about grain trading and risk management and “Changing Logistics Affecting Grain and Oilseed Shipments”. The conferences were conducted with San Miguel Corporation to assist them in grain procurement and risk management subjects.

Mark Fowler is pictured with employees from Seabord Corporation. Left to right: Dale Wiest, Kenya; Johan DeSchepper, Haiti; Aleyn Venter, South Africa; Mark Fowler, IGP; Roy Loepp, Kansas City. Fowler trav-eled to Kansas City, Kan. for the annual IAOM meetings from May 5 to 7. Kendall McFall also traveled to present a lecture. The conference offers grain milling professionals an opportunity to advance in their careers through educational programs and networking. It is the largest expo in the world for milling professionals. More than 1,000 attended.

IGP Staff John Howard Director

Jay O’Neil Senior Agricultural Economist

Mark Fowler Director of Technical Services

Bob Bennett Grain Quality Specialist

Carl Reed Grain Storage Technologist

Harvey Kiser Senior Agricultural Economist Emeritus

Cathy McGlothin Program Coordinator

Julia Debes Sheridan Wimmer Student Communication Specialists

Katie Kuhlman Jackie Klenda Emily Schneider Wayne Stoskopf Student Assistants

Contact IGP International Grains Program Department of Grain Science and Industry Kansas State University 1980 Kimball Ave. 102 IGP Bldg. Manhattan, KS 66506-7000 USA (785) 532-4070 fax (785) 532-6080 igp@ksu.edu

Fowler attends Food Aid seminar

Mark Fowler visited Kansas City, Mo. for the ninth annual USDA Food Aid seminar. The two-day conference had participants from Haiti, Ethiopia and USDA Farm Service Administra-tion Kansas City Commodity office (FSA KCCO). The FSA KCCO is responsible for the purchase of wheat and wheat commodities for export to Food Aid organizations. Fowler presented a lecture on the classes and uses of U.S. wheat, the U.S. grain inspection service and the milling process. The group traveled from Kansas City, Mo. to Topeka, Kans. for an industry tour of the Cargill Grain Terminal. They also visited Lifeline Foods in St. Joseph, Mo. to learn the importance of the com-pany’s current involvement with USDA food aid programs.

• Mark Fowler traveled to Kansas City, Mo. for the Five States Wheat meeting on April 16.

• John Howard attended the International Grains Council in London, England from June 8-14.

• Kendall McFall and Mark Fowler helped teach high school students about flour mill-ing during Discovery Days.

Other News

Above: Mark Fowler shows a high school student flour dur-ing Discovery Days.