GIPSA Administrator James Link has told Agency personnel that he has made a selection for the position of agency deputy administrator and forwarded that recommendation up through USDA channels for final approval. Because the position is a “senior executive system” appointment, the decision must also be cleared at The White House Office of Personal Management. If all goes smoothly, an announcement on the selection could occur by mid-July.

GIPSA officials have decided to use a portion of the accumulated reserves in the “Supervision of Official Agencies” account to pay for some start-up costs associated with the new Technical Center in Kansas City and for training programs. As background information, the minutes from the May 13/14 meeting of the Grain Inspection Advisory Committee included these comments from Pat Donohue-Galvin, Director, Budget and Planning Staff, GIPSA:

Through April 2008, the Supervision of Official Agencies program is currently running a $300K surplus. We estimate the program may realize a total gain of $500K by the end of the fiscal year. This will bring the total account reserve to $2.5M which represents substantially more than the 3-month operating reserve. The Agency proposed and discussed with members in later discussions that a portion of the Supervision of Official Agencies account could be directed toward a training program operated from the new Kansas City (technical center) for official agency personnel.

AAGIWA President Larry Kitchen reports that the Quality Management Program (QMP) Review Team continues to make good progress in working toward a common template that all agencies could use in designing their quality manuals. The current focus for the Review Team is a draft program directive to accompany the template. Kitchen said he expects a final draft of the program directive and template to be ready for the Team’s consideration by mid-July. Then, the Team will begin working with those agencies who have agreed to be part of the pilot program. The goal is to finalize the directive and template by August 1 and have the pilot program ready to begin on September 1.

USDA’s Federal Grain Inspection Service on June 30 issued an updated Program Notice on the “Inspection of Flood Damaged Grain” in light of the significant flooding that has occurred in some areas. The Program Notice states:

• Kernels that are materially damaged by flooding are considered as damaged kernels and count toward the total percentage of damaged kernels in the sample.
• Grain materially affected by flooding is considered as (DLQ) and certified as U.S. Sample Grade. DLQ lots must be reported to the Food and Drug Administration as “actionable.”

The Program Notice states that the flood situation has alerted FGIS to the potential for water damaged grain entering the marketplace. FDA considers flood water to be inherently insanitary and deems grains, oilseeds, feed, and feed ingredients (including distillers grains) and food that have been in contact with flood water to be unfit for human consumption or animal feed, unless reconditioned.

University of Missouri and University of Nebraska-Lincoln extension specialists are reporting the presence of wheat scab. MU Extension says the fungal disease appears to be widespread through the wheat growing regions of the state and threatens to lower yields and reduce seed quality.

Randy Pryor, UNL extension educator in Saline County, Nebr., says scab is “very prevalent” in southeast Nebraska. He said scab was identified throughout the UNL variety test plot near Western in Saline County. Pryor said:

The cooperator’s field was showing at least 20 percent scab symptoms in a field adjacent to the UNL wheat variety plots. Septoria caused leaf losses, especially in certain varieties such as 2137. It is rare to see this disease cause problems on flag leaves like it did this year. “Rain on the Plains” was not good for southeast Nebraska wheat during pollination. Fungal diseases will negatively impact yield, the extent we do not know yet.

The Kansas City Board of Trade announced June 26 that, subject to regulatory approval, it was implementing a limit on the level of vomitoxin present in wheat for delivery of no more than 4 parts per million (ppm). The new rule is effective July 1. The KCBT said that even though it is rare for vomitoxin (deoxynivalenol or DON) to be present in Hard Red Winter (HRW) wheat that the new rule was necessary to ensure that deliveries of wheat do not contain unreasonable levels of vomitoxin. The KCBT noted that most millers do not accept HRW wheat with vomitoxin levels higher that 2 ppm.

The KCBT action follows reports of winter wheat fields where the fungal disease “scab” has been reported. Scabby wheat is likely to contain vomitoxin.

FGIS on June 2 issued a new directive (FGIS 9180.35) which consolidates previous directives for phytosanitary inspections and includes procedures for inspecting processed grain products. Under a Memorandum of Understanding with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS), GIPSA (and designated agencies where appropriate) provides phytosanitary inspections at U.S. export locations, at interior locations for export-bound grain, and for processed grain products covered by the Agricultural Marketing Act.

The Policies and Procedures Branch of FGIS will conduct several training sessions in the near future for official personnel involved in the inspection and weighing of grain and processed products loaded into containers. The training will cover stowage exams, sampling, weighing, and inspection procedures, as well as phytosanitary inspection procedures. The first session will be hosted by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture on August 27, 2008, in Elizabeth City, NC. The second training session will take place at the Kankakee Grain Inspection complex in Essex, IL on September 17, 2008. Additional training will be provided at the FGIS TSD facility in Kansas City, MO in late October and at a site in the Pacific Northwest at a date to be determined. FGIS encourages official agency personnel to actively participate in the training sessions.

Contact Bob Lijewski, Assistant Director, Policies and Procedures Branch, at robert.s.lijewski@usda.gov or (202) 720-0224 for further information or to reserve a space at the training sessions or to get lodging and transportation information.

GEAPS announced on June 24 that it is developing a basic-level distance-education course on the U.S. grain-inspection system that could be offered as early as April 2009. GEAPS will be developing the course in collaboration with Kansas State University and GIPSA. GIPSA will provide much of the content for the course.

The course, tentatively called “Grain Inspection 101,” will likely include segments on:

• Grain markets
• U.S. grain standards
• The U.S. official and unofficial grain-inspection systems
• GIPSA’s duties
• Factors that define grain quality
• Sampling
• An overview of grain-inspection procedures, and
• A virtual tour of GIPSA’s Grain Inspection Lab and the technology that it uses.

GEAPS International President Mark Daniels said the course is being designed as an introduction to the U.S. grain inspection system and will provide useful information to anyone planning to pursue grain-grading work for grain companies or other entities. The target audience includes industry professionals in operations, merchandising and a wide variety of other capacities.

John Sharpe, Director of GIPSA’s Technical Services Division, said the impetus for the collaboration came from the Agency’s Grain Inspection Advisory Committee which specifically recommended that GIPSA join forces in a distance-education program.

Tuition for the distance education courses offered by GEAPS is currently $500 for GEAPS members and $685 for non-members.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture wants to eradicate an exotic snail around the Port of Tacoma before it gets a chance to hitch a ride into the state's agricultural heartland. The Mediterranean vineyard snail was first discovered at the Port of Tacoma in 2005. The same species has caused extensive damage to crops in Australia for years.

The state ag department is working on an eradication program on about 300 acres of industrial land in and around the port. If the snails aren't eradicated, they could attach themselves to trains, freight containers or trucks and be transported into farming areas.

"That's the concern," said Glen Squires, vice president of the Washington Grain Alliance. The vineyard snail has been a serious problem in Australia for many years, he said. The tiny pest is only about an inch in diameter, but in great numbers can wreak havoc on crops, clogging up harvesters and causing contaminated loads to be rejected.

WSDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have conducted surveys of railyards and transportation corridors on both sides of the state the past two years. So far, there's no evidence that the snail has migrated outside the port area. Survey crews haven't been to the east side yet this year, but they will, state agriculture officials said.

WSDA is in the second year of its snail eradication program, said Jim Marra, managing entomologist for the department. The program involves pesticide applications to remove vegetation. "We look at this as a multi-year project," he said.

"We're in the process of doing an environmental assessment right now with USDA, and we have to get approval before we can apply pesticides to the area," Marra said. Assuming that USDA grants approval, most of the eradication work this year will be conducted over the summer and fall.

"It's a big area to conduct an eradication," Marra said. "There's a lot of traffic coming in and out of the area." Vineyard snails reportedly cause millions of dollars of damage to Australian grain crops each year, and Washington officials don't want the same thing to happen in the Northwest.

-- reprinted from the Capitol Press, June 13, 2008, by Dave Wilkin

The Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) announced June 30 grain grading changes for the 2008-09 eastern crop year that will come into effect on July 1, 2008:

• An updated grade schedule for malt barley that has two grades to reflect the industry’s handling and marketing practices. The schedule includes a Select Malt Barley grade for two-row and six row malt barley.
• Revised tolerances for sclerotinia in specific grades of general purpose barley and rye. These tolerances are the same as the tolerances for ergot.
• Reporting tolerances for stones as a percentage of total weight of sample in Canada Eastern rye.

The CGC is the federal agency responsible for establishing and maintaining Canada’s grain quality standards. Its programs result in shipments of grain that consistently meet contract specifications for quality, safety and quantity. The CGC regulates the grain industry to protect producers’ rights and ensure the integrity of grain transactions.

Missouri Governor Matt Blunt on June 25 appointed Don Steen to lead the state’s Department of Agriculture. Mr. Steen will replace Katie Smith, who is stepping down in anticipation of an expanding family. AAGIWA members will remember Director Smith from her presentation at the April 2008 annual meeting.

“Mr. Steen’s lifelong farm experience, history of public service, and active involvement in all that is Missouri agriculture will build on our successful efforts to Missouri agriculture,” Gov. Blunt said. “I appreciate Katie Smith’s service to our state and Missouri agriculture and wish her and her growing family the very best.”

Mr. Steen, 58 of Eldon, was born and raised in Missouri and continues working on the same farm where he grew up and where he raised his family. His family has been in the turkey business for 35 years and also raises cattle. Mr. Steen has a bachelor’s in animal science from the University of Missouri and continued his education at Ozark Christian College.

Mr. Steen’s appointment is subject to Senate confirmation and is effective July 7, 2008.

AAGIWA welcomes member information about new products, business changes, personnel changes and other items that may be of interest to AAGIWA members. Please let us know what is new in your business. Send your information to: bob.petersen@aagiwa.org

Looking for a way to move that used equipment you are no longer using? Place an ad in Chaff – the most well-targeted publication for used inspection equipment. The advertising cost for members begins at $100. Ads for the September issue must be submitted by August 25th Those ads should be sent to Bob Petersen at bob.petersen@aagiwa.org

AAGIWA is now booking sponsors for future issues of Chaff. Chaff can present your company with a unique opportunity to hit a very targeted audience of key executives in a venue that has strong readership in the agriculture industry. It is an excellent marketing opportunity – contact Bob Petersen for further information at bob.petersen@aagiwa.org.