NCI Hosts Food Grade Soybean Procurement Course

Last week, NCI welcomed 22 participants from 6 different countries for our Food Grade Soybean Procurement course! The course was held from June 6-10, 2022, and it was the first international course hosted by NCI post-pandemic. The NCI staff, industry partners, and course participants were thrilled to be back in-person to kick off a busy summer of courses.

Bob Sinner of SB&B talks about soybean planting on a visit to a soybean field.

This course focused on the many aspects of sourcing and purchasing high quality, identity preserved (IP) soybeans for food products. During the course, the participants heard several presentations from university professors and commodity traders, toured processing and packaging facilities, and visited a local soybean farm to see food grade soybeans growing in the fields. Additionally, live lab demonstrations were conducted detailing the soymilk and tofu-making processes.

For more information on the course, visit https://www.northern-crops.com/training-courses/food-grade-soybean-procurement-course-2022

Group photo after the tour at Brushvale Seed.

Day one included lectures by presenters from NCI, NDSC, SSGA, and NDSU. The group traveled to Casselton, ND, for a tour of SB&B with Bob Sinner. Participants were able to see the equipment used to clean the soybeans, how the soybeans are tested before being unloaded at the plant, how they are stored prior to shipment, and the importance of quality control procedures to maintain high quality throughout.

Day two included more lectures from presenters from USSEC and SSGA. Grain Industry Consultant, Mike Kruger, gave a presentation on risk management and independent grain consulting. In the afternoon, the group traveled to Breckenridge, MN, for a tour of Brushvale Seed with Travis Meyer.

NCI director Mark Jirik talks with course participants at the reception dinner.

Day three saw many more presentations. By the end of a long day of valuable lectures, a course reception dinner was held at the Sanctuary Events Center in Fargo. It was the perfect time to relax a bit before a busy last two days of more presentations and travel to Minneapolis, MN, for the remainder of the course.

To hear more about the course from NCI program Manager Brian Sorenson, WISHH Asia Division Director Alan Poock, and a course participant from Myanmar, check out this video here: https://youtu.be/7WQhmOHRm9M.

NCI would like to thank all the participants as well as our supporting partners for this course, specifically North Dakota Soybean Council (NDSC), Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council (MSRPC), South Dakota Soybean Checkoff (SDSC), World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH), and Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA).