2007 Annual Winter Meeting

The annual winter meeting of AAGIWA was at the Monte Carlo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 21 throrugh the 23rd. The meeting was very well attended with more than 75 registered.

On January 21, USDA-GIPSA Administrator James Link was our opening speaker. If you ever get the chance to spend some time with Administrator James Link it would be well worth it. A majority of Mr. Link's attention has been addressing issues with the Packers & Stockyards Administration. His ability to cut straight to the heart of any matter is refreshing. We all enjoyed his style and humor.

Steve Gill the Director of the Farm Service Agency spoke about homeland security and the extra demands this has put on grain elevators.

Tom O'Conner from APHIS addressed the group about changes he and Bob Lijewski have been working on for the Inspection Report - Insects in Grain Form 921-2. These changes will help with communication between all parties involved.

The 2007 AAGIWA meeting was attended well by GIPSA. Representatives from GIPSA included John Giller, John Sharpe, Karen Guagliardo, Byron Riley, Dave Funk, and Beth Hayden.

John Giler's presentation addressed several issues. One change in September 2007 test weight for soybeans will be expressed in whole and tenths. Official testing for Zearalenone in corn and cracked corn can now be done officially. Development of a hand held LCD and camera to check stowage on railcars from the ground is being researched. John also presented some information on the Inspection Data Warehouse (IDW) and addressing concerns about how this program will be implemented.

Dave Funk's presentation gave us some insight, into how some of the current equipment and programs have been developed. Also mentioned was a new technology for determining moisture in grain.

Karen Guagliardo's presentation was based around problem areas found in reviews by Compliance. At this time the presentation has been emailed to all AAGIWA members. Karen fielded many questions about Compliance reviews. Greg Holeck suggested that Compliance could have a column in the monthly GIPSA Newsletter to show current problems being found on reviews. The following day John Giller announced Compliance will have a column in the GIPSA newsletter to cover these problem areas. Look for this in next months GIPSA Newsletter.

Beth Hayden the GIPSA Verification Program Manager's presentation was about the new GIPSA Quality Standard. Beth Hayden has a web address to view the presentation she gave at the meeting http://archive.gipsa.usda.gov/rdd/OSP.htm . Also listed on this site are the training locations and dates, and the link to the GIPSA Quality Standards.

At the business meeting a new President, Vice President, and two board members were elected. Larry Kitchen is the new AAGIWA President, Mark Fulmer as Vice President, Randy McCormick and Randy Deike were elected to serve as board members. Congratulations and thank you for devoting your time to AAGIWA in the past and in the future.

AAGIWA would like to thank Tom Dahl for his service as President the past 2 years. If it were not for individuals like Tom Dahl willing to add one more responsibility to the day AAGIWA would have faded away many years ago. So once again a big thank you to Tom Dahl.

One more thank you must go out to Barry Hibbets for his service as, Secretary Treasurer. Thank you for serving AAGIWA with such integrity.

Thanks to Dave Reeder of Fremont Grain Inspection Dept, Inc. for sending on the summary report of the meeting!