NCI Hosts Grain Procurement Management for Importers Course to Educate Grain Industry Professionals

Grain Procurement Management for Importers group photo.

The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) recently hosted its Grain Procurement Management for Importers short course. Spanning from September 12th through the 21st, this 8-day course welcomed guests from the Middle East, U.S., Africa, Asia, and Europe. This course featured lectures along with tours, and aimed to educate those in the grain handling business on the U.S. grain handling and marketing system and the risk management tools available to aid their purchasing of U.S. grain.

The participants spent the first week of the program in Fargo, split between time at the NCI office and also at Barry Hall downtown. This building serves as the main hub for the College of Business at North Dakota State University (NDSU), and features world-class commodity market monitoring and financial information equipment. They also traveled to Duluth, MN and Minneapolis, MN for the second half of the course.

Frayne Olson, Ph.D., lecturing participants in Barry Hall.

Their time in Fargo began on Monday the 12th at the NCI office, where they first heard from Bill Wilson, Ph.D., a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Agribusiness & Applied Economics at NDSU. From there, they traveled to Barry Hall for the first time, where they were greeted by Frayne Olson, Ph.D., Crops Economist/Marketing Specialist at NDSU. He would go on to introduce the Commodity Trading Game, a simulation that the participants would explore throughout their week in Fargo. In addition to Olson and Wilson, the group were also given presentations by Allison Thompson, Commodity Broker & Market Analyst at The Money Farm, Erica Olson, Market Development & Research Manager at the North Dakota Wheat Commission, and Jim Peterson, Policy & Marketing Director at the North Dakota Wheat Commission.

Tuesday was spent entirely at the NCI office, where the group participated in further discussion with industry members. Speakers once again included Olson, who was joined by a few other individuals. These included David Bullock, Ph.D., Research Associate Professor at NDSU, Barry Gomoll, Grain Marketing Specialist at USDA, AMS, FGIS, and FMD, and Daryl Ritchison, Director of the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network (NDAWN).

Bill Wilson, Ph.D., presenting to participants in Barry Hall.

Wednesday saw the group return to Barry Hall again, with both returning and new speakers to facilitate the day’s discussion. Olson once again returned to host another Trading Game Exercise session, along with Wilson and Bullock for more presentations. They were joined by Jeffery McPike, Analyst/Broker for WASEDA Commodities, and Shane Markham, Ag Wheat Manager for BNSF Railway Company. A reception was also hosted by NCI at local craft brewery Fargo Brewing Company for those who were interested in attending.

For Thursday’s session, the participants were split into two groups according to who their sponsors for this course were. The first group, sponsored by U.S. Wheat Associates, were presented to by Steven Wirsching, V.P. & Director of the West Coast Office of the U.S. Wheat Associates before departing the NCI office for their tours of the day. These included the Alton Grain Terminal (in Hillsboro, ND), ND State Mill (in Grand Forks, ND), and the NDSU Field Plots (in Prosper, ND). The second group, sponsored by U.S. Grains Council, headed straight to the NCI Feed Mill for a morning presentation by Kim Koch, Ph.D., NCI Senior Feed Milling & Extrusion Specialist. From there, they toured the NCI Feed Production Center, NDSU Farm, Peterson Farms Seed (in Harwood, ND), Tharaldson Ethanol (in Casselton, ND), and Maple River Grain & Agronomy (also in Casselton, ND). To close out this day, NCI hosted a social and dinner event at the Sanctuary Event Center in Fargo, ND for interested participants.

Mark Jirik, Bill Wilson, Ph.D., Frayne Olson, Ph.D., and others discussing the course so far with participants.

On Friday, the group reconvened and returned to the NCI office for the last time. There, they heard from Carol Meinders, Supervisory Agriculture Market Reporter at the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service. Bill Wilson also returned as a presenter, as did Frayne Olson for a review of the Trading Game Exercise from the week. Additionally, Brian Liedl, Director of Merchandising at United Grain Corporation, also presented before all speakers virtual and non-virtual were invited to a course review session led by NCI Director Mark Jirik, along with Olson and Wilson. This session served as a checkpoint for the course, and as a wrap-up to the first week of content.

The group then resumed their coursework on Monday. Now in Duluth, the group were presented to by Kate Ferguson, Public Relations Director for the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, and Jason Hron, Director of Communications & Marketing for the Duluth Seaway Port Authority. They then were given a boat tour of the entire Duluth Harbor. Once the harbor tour concluded, the group crossed over into Superior, WI for a tour of the CHS Grain Export Terminal before departing Duluth for Minneapolis, MN.

Course participants inside the Cargill headquarters in Wayzata, MN.

On Tuesday, participants spent the morning at ADM-Benson Quinn in Minneapolis and at Buhler, Inc. in Plymouth, MN. At these locations, the group was provided presentations by Scott Nagel, President of ADM-Benson Quinn and ADM Fertilizer, Scott O’Donnell, Trader at Frontier Futures, Inc., Zsolt Vincze, Senior V.P. of R.J. O’Brien & Associates, Domingo Williams, Wheat Trader at Agrex, Inc., and Matt Ammermann, V.P. & Commodity Risk Manager of StoneX Financial. Once their coursework was complete here, the group traveled to the Cargill headquarters in Wayzata, MN. There, they toured Cargill’s trading floor and were provided lectures by Brad Hibbs, V.P. & Wheat Trading Manager at Cargill, Patrick Stoltz, Senior Merchandising Manager at Cargill, and Sean Derrick, Spring Wheat Production Line Manager at Cargill. Ivy Winfield, Senior Trade Execution Coordinator and Andree Adjoumani Damida, Grain and Oilseeds Supply Chain NA Trade Execution Contract Desk at Cargill, also presented to the group.

For the final day of the course, the participants toured CHS in Inver Grove Heights, MN, and listened to a lecture by Bruce Weber, Risk Management for Wheat Product Lines at CHS, Ryan Caffrey, Senior Merchant of Durum at CHS, Taylor Smalley, Senior Merchant of Hard Red Spring Wheat at CHS, and Mike Klein, Senior Merchandiser at CHS. The group also toured the CHS Barge Loading Facility in Savage, MN with Lisa Brickey, Terminal Manager of CHS Global Grain & Processing, before the course officially concluded.

Overall, this course was extremely well-received by the participants, thanks to the hard work the NCI team did to ensure its success. From coordinating tours and speakers and other logistical details, numerous individuals worked together to make this course possible. To learn more about other course opportunities NCI is offering, please visit https://www.northern-crops.com/courses.