Blog
Welcome to the Northern Crops Institute blog! Here you will find blog posts related to our courses, technical services and anything else we do. Enjoy!
Featured
Blog
Welcome to the Northern Crops Institute blog! Here you will find blog posts related to our courses, technical services and anything else we do. Enjoy!
The Food Technologist conducts laboratory analyses on northern grown crops, assists with pilot-scale processing, and participates in demonstrations and training for international trade teams and short course participants. This includes lab analysis of grains, flour, and ingredients.
The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) hosted its annual Grain Procurement Management for Importers course on September 9-18, 2024. This course covered a variety of procurement topics including grain export handling and logistics, basis, hedging, grading standards, world market outlook, purchasing, and risk management.
The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) hosted its INTSOY: Introduction to Soybean course on August 12-16, 2024. This course covered a variety of topics around soybean basics including quality, nutrition, and utilization of soybeans in human and animal foods.
The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) hosted its Southeast Asia Contracting for Wheat Value workshop from August 7-9, 2024. This workshop was conducted in-person at the NCI in Fargo, North Dakota with 6 participants from Indonesia and Malaysia.
The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) hosted its Pasta Production from Multiple US Wheat Classes course on July 29 - August 2, 2024. This course covered the manufacturing of several classes of wheat produced in the U.S.A., including Hard Red Spring, Hard Red Winter, Soft Red Winter and Durum.
The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) hosted its Biofuels Industry Tour last week from July 22 - 24, 2024. The tour educated participants on the biofuels industry and included presentations and local tours from industry experts.
The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) hosted its Understanding Feed Manufacturing for Graduate Students course on July 24-26, 2024. The NCI recognized the need for students studying animal nutrition or ag engineering to have direct access to or experience in a feed mill. Therefore, this course was created to provide a three-day workshop as a service to those students and our partner universities.
The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) hosted three webinars in June of 2024. This included two NCI Market Update webinars and one Pulse Potential webinar. This month drew in 94 views either live or recorded from 9 different countries: the United States, Belgium, Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates.
The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) recently hosted its 3rd annual Ancient Grains Conference on June 25th, 2024, at the Northern Crops Institute in Fargo, ND. With four presentation speakers, three panel participants, and hands-on demonstrations for attendees, this conference offered a true crash-course to Ancient Grains and ways to incorporate them into your life. This conference was the last event to be held at the Northern Crops Institute’s original building and utilized the auditorium, bake lab, and stone milling room.
The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) hosted its Stone Milling: A Hands-On Experience course this week from June 18-21, 2024. The course educated participants on stone milling start to finish from preparing and setting up a stone mill to milling flour and finally product development with milled flour.
The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) hosted its IP/Food Grade Soybean Procurement course on June 17-21, 2024. This course was conducted in-person at the NCI in Fargo, North Dakota with 20 participants from the United States, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) hosted its second Summer Ag Academy from June 10-14, 2024. This year, NCI welcomed 40+ high school students going into grades 10-12 from across the United States to participate in the event. Students were split amongst three tracks: Animal Science, Food Science, and International Trade and Policy. The purpose of the Ag Academy is to inspire students to explore career opportunities in agriculture by interacting with world-class professionals, facilities, and activities within their selected field.
The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) hosted its Soybean and Soybean Meal Procurement course on May 13-21, 2024. This course contained lectures on cash and futures markets and the complexity of the international soybean and soybean meal markets. It also provided an overview of the U.S. soybean and soybean meal handling and marketing system and the risk management tools available to assist buyers in purchasing U.S. soybean and soybean meal that meets their quality needs at the best value.
The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) hosted its U.S. Soy and the Value of Essential Amino Acids (EAA) course on May 6-10, 2024. The course was held in conjunction with the American Soybean Association (ASA) and WISHH (World Initiative for Soy in Human Health) and was sponsored by the North Dakota Soybean Council (NDSC). The purpose of the course was to provide in-depth training on the value and use of U.S. soybeans, particularly in relation to essential amino acids.
The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) hosted four webinars in April of 2024. This included two NCI Market Update webinars, one Future of Feeding webinar, and one Everything Ethanol webinar. This month drew in 164 viewers either live or recorded from 15 different countries: the United States, Cambodia, Canada, China, Ecuador, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, and Zambia.
The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) hosted its Pasta Production and Technology course on April 23-25, 2024. This course introduced participants to the fundamental and applied aspects of pasta production and quality through lectures and laboratory demonstrations.
The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) is seeking a Program Manager. This position will be responsible for the development, planning, and delivery of educational programming that is designed to increase international and domestic demand for the crops grown in the four-state region NCI serves. Most programming focuses on wheat, soy, corn, and barley. Programs may include in-person short courses, virtual courses, small conferences, and single presentations.
The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) Annual Update provides a yearly overview about NCI and the different events, courses, and other happenings. Click to view the 2023 Annual Update online.
Welcome to the Communications Corner ㅡ a once a month recap blog post sharing what NCI’s communications team has been up to!
Welcome to the Communications Corner ㅡ a once a month recap blog post sharing what NCI’s communications team has been up to!
The NCI video production team rounded out 2023 on a high note. The big exit project, once again, took place in Grand Forks, ND, with the annual trip to the Prairie Grains Conference. For the third year in a row, the December video update will feature a segment all about the Prairie Grains filming. Read on for more.
Welcome to the Communications Corner ㅡ a once a month recap blog post sharing what NCI’s communications team has been up to!
The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) is excited to have a new home in the Peltier Complex and an update to its Feed Production Center in 2024. In the new facility, NCI will have over 3 times the space they have today, along with 3 new labs for soy, protein, and fermentation. There will also be upgrades on the pasta lab, bake lab, mill room, along with an expansion of the Feed Production Center.
This month, the video production team has a little bit of everything to share. Video projects in November ranged from green screen live action to detail-oriented animation keyframing. Read on to find out about the exciting new animation endeavor as well as how NCI developed their technique for professional lecture recording.
Welcome to the Communications Corner ㅡ a once a month recap blog post sharing what NCI’s communications team has been up to!
The 2023 Q4 is here with courses in the homestretch. That shifts NCI’s video production crew to planning mode already gearing up for bigger and better things in 2024. Read on to learn about the mock studio setup NCI has been working on in preparation for the new media room in the Peltier Complex coming soon.
This month’s Cereal Innovators Webinar was led by Neil Doty, Ph.D. on October 11, 2023. Dr. Doty presented “Your Kitchen to Consumer” to educate viewers on bringing their food innovations to the market. Dr. Doty is also the author of a workbook created to guide people through the process of developing a food product.
A group of international grain buyers joined NCI for the Grain Procurement Management Course for Importers held September 11-20, 2023.
Welcome to the Communications Corner ㅡ a once a month recap blog post sharing what NCI’s communications team has been up to!
September was another busy month with various events on top of our everyday communication and marketing tasks. Let’s recap this month’s events!
NCI is still in full course swing but nearing the end of the busy course season as the weather cools. The conference schedule this month had NCI’s second annual Next 5 Years Conference locked in on September 11 this year. NCI is grateful for our friends at LiveWire for providing their live streaming services for the conference. Nevertheless, there was plenty of other video work to be done that day. Read on for the details.