FOSS North America

Nils Foss

The FOSS Company was founded in Denmark by Nils Foss in 1956, with the objective to offer automated and cost-efficient alternatives to time-consuming analyses in food and agriculture.  The first FOSS instruments were developed to test moisture in grain.

Steve Nenonen, Foss North America, Sales Manager for the Grain and Milling Division points out that while FOSS now provides instruments for many different products, that FOSS devotes its efforts solely to agricultural and food products.  The company is privately owned and remains headquartered in Denmark.  However, FOSS has sales and services subsidiaries around the globe.  

FOSS North America is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota and has sales and service representatives throughout the U.S. and Canada.  It’s important that FOSS service representatives are located throughout the U.S., so they are able to be onsite quickly because clients use FOSS instruments to make real time decisions.  These service representatives have continued to travel throughout the Covid-19 pandemic to ensure that FOSS instruments provide the crucial information customers need. 

FOSS Infratec Nova

While FOSS is most known for its Infratec Nova whole grain protein analyzer, Steve points out that FOSS provides instruments that assist the dairy, feed and forage, flour milling, oil processing, meat, pet food, and wine industries.  For example, FOSS instruments scan large beef portions to determine the amount of fat, lean, protein, and moisture so that each portion can be used to its greatest potential.

Steve was born and raised in corn and soybean country near DeKalb, Illinois, and his first job was detasseling corn at 13 years old.  Steve obtained his undergraduate degree from Bradley University and his Master’s in Business Administration from Western Illinois University.  He began his career with Monsanto in Saint Louis, then accepted a position with Romer Labs, and has now been with FOSS for about six years. 

Steve says the interesting thing about working in agriculture is that you are continually learning, and you never get to the point that you know it all.  Steve’s various positions and his travels throughout the country allow him to see and learn how diverse U.S. agriculture truly is.

Steve enjoys building relationships with his customers whether it is with an official agency or large multinational companies involved in flour milling.  He has also built relationships with end users such as pizza companies that need to quality check their incoming flour with FOSS instruments.  Steve says that through these strong relationships, customers feel confident to contact him when issues arise because they know he will address the problem and rectify it.  These relationships are a source of pride for Steve, and something he takes very seriously.

Steve points out that FOSS produces instruments for all aspects of grain and flour analysis.  In each step from whole grain to the final product there exists a need for quality information that FOSS instruments can provide to ensure success.  Because each end user of flour has specific quality needs, both the miller and the end user can count on FOSS instruments to assure the product meets their needs and expectations.  While the FOSS Infratec instrument is widely approved around the globe and in the U.S. official grain inspection arena, they also produce other instruments to provide valuable grain and grain product quality information, such as falling number analysis which are used in the commercial marketplace.

Steve enjoys working with the official agencies and AAGIWA.  He has been on the Wheat Quality Council and is involved Association of Operative Millers and many other organizations, but AAGIWA is one of his favorites because of the people and he is serving his third term on the Board of Directors. 

Steve says he has not traveled since last March due to the Covid-19 pandemic and while he looks forward to attending the upcoming AAGIWA annual meeting, he knows that many of the companies that he would normally visit continue to restrict outside visitors for the foreseeable future.  Although many face-to-face visits may not happen for awhile FOSS’s service representative will continue to be there for their customers and Steve will continue to maintain those relationships that are so valuable.

Seedburo Equipment Company

Seedburo Equipment Company has a long and proud history of collaboration with customers, suppliers, and the grain industry to provide specialty products for testing within the grain, feed, and seed industries. It is this commitment to collaboration that makes the company the go-to source of specialty products utilized in these industries worldwide.

Seedburo has been in business for 109 years and has been directly involved in the design and manufacture of many pieces of equipment used in the inspection system. This involvement and associated knowledge are resources that may not be evident to those new to the grain handling and inspection industries. Tom Runyon, company owner, points out that 109 years is a long time for any manufacturing and distribution company and this longevity places Seedburo in a unique position to assist the grain inspection industry well into the future.

The company started as a publishing company that printed a seed catalogue and was called the Seed Trade Reporting Bureau. A century ago, almost everyone had a home garden, and they were looking for seeds to meet their needs. The company then began printing information for State agricultural agents across the country. This relationship offered the opportunity to work with individuals that were developing the U.S. Grain Standards. Many of the persons developing the early grain testing equipment were either relatives or associates of the company’s owner Leroy Smith. Additionally, the company was in the same building as the Chicago Board of Trade which facilitated collaboration of grain inspection equipment development.  

Persons developing grain inspection equipment realized that Seedburo had a relationship with small seed cleaner businesses through the seed publications they were publishing and began partnering with Seedburo to promote their products in these publications. This relationship caused the company to evolve from a publishing company to an equipment distribution company. In 1947 and the name was shortened to Seedburo. You may still find some older equipment with the company name Seed Trade Reporting Bureau. Publishing their grain inspection equipment catalog caused Seedburo to become the magnet for both people reaching out to sell their equipment and those seeking to find inspection equipment. This positioned Seedburo in the unique position between both parties and the government who approved equipment to bring new equipment to market and distribute these products.

Initially, Seedburo only distributed products manufactured by others, and they found companies that would manufacture products that developers brought to them. For example, Seedburo has been associated with the Boerner divider since 1915. Initially the divider was distributed by Seedburo, but later became a Seedburo product. Seedburo now has a contractor to build the dividers. All Seedburo probes and sieves are exclusively manufactured for Seedburo by small contractors.  

Seedburo is proud to work with dozens of small business manufacturers to produce their products.  Many of these relationships span decades and many are small family businesses in the United States. Tom says it is important to recognize that these small contractors produce “custom made specialty grain grading equipment”. They are unique custom-made industrial products. For example, there is no other test weight quart cup bucket available as a consumer good. Customers do not always recognize the unique nature of these products and the limited quantities that are sold each year.

Recently, Seedburo has established some inhouse manufacturing and repair capabilities. They manufacture the sieve shaker, grading scales and pellet durability testers at their sister company AgPoint Precision.

Seedburo also owned the Gamet Company beginning in the early 1980’s when there was a death of the primary owner and the company needed to liquidate. After about 20 years the company was sold back to a small group of upper-level employees. Although Seedburo has had significant manufacturing capabilities they remain primary a distribution company in the niche markets.

After college Tom spent one year teaching vocational agriculture, before his wife encouraged him to move to Chicago where Tom entered the grain inspection equipment business as an employee of the Burrows Equipment Company in 1979. Burrows was a Seedburo competitor that also produced an equipment catalog. It was that same year that Seedburo purchased Burrows and Tom began working for Seedburo. Tom is the first nonfamily member to own the company after three generations of Smith family ownership. With 41 years of experience, Tom has a wealth of knowledge and contacts within this specialized enterprise.

Tom is proud of the work that Seedburo has done in the past with FGIS when someone would have an idea for new or improved equipment design to enhance the inspection process. Seedburo was in the unique position to bring the manufacturing component to the solution through its network of suppliers. This network of collaboration has produced significant improvements. While the amount of collaboration has lessened over the recent years, Tom believes Seedburo is still uniquely positioned to assist.

Seedburo is headquartered in Des Plaines, Illinois and their AgPoint facility is only 40 miles away in Plainfield, Illinois. 14 employees work at headquarters and five work at AgPoint.  Tom says they are a “small little company doing big business”. They distribute to all 50 States each year, and they typically distribute to around 85 foreign countries each year. Their largest markets outside of the U.S. are Canada and Mexico. Iraq continues to be a significant customer as the U.S. continues to rebuild their agricultural infrastructure. Other countries of prominent purchasing include China, Colombia and Pakistan.

Although Seedburo’s printed catalog has been a staple in their marketing for many years and continues to be so, several years ago they began developing their website as an additional marketing tool and to allow customers to make their purchases online. This was especially useful this year when so much of their customers needed to purchase online. In fact, numerous new companies have come to Seedburo to have them distribute their products because of how impressed they were with Seedburo’s website.

Tom says that the diversity of the products they sell, and the diversity of their customers makes the job of running Seedburo interesting for him. At one moment he may be talking to an inspection agency on the East Coast, followed by one in the Midwest, and then one on the West Coast. Each one with similar but different needs. Then he may be working with a processor trying to separate different specialty seeds. He is also proud that all these people come to Seedburo to solve these unique problems. It is not only providing a product to resolve the problem but it’s the ability also to share knowledge that is most rewarding even though it might not create an order.  

 Working with the U.S. Grains Council has been especially rewarding as they work to establish inspection laboratories overseas. From providing initial lists of necessary equipment, shipping the equipment to the destination, to seeing pictures of the completed laboratory full of Seedburo equipment shared by U.S. Grains Council in their publications is especially gratifying.

While Seedburo has a proud history, they are here for the future as well. With a diverse product line and a constant eye to add new products to meet emerging needs the people at Seedburo are well positioned to continue to do their part to move the inspection industry forward.

Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry

The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry’s (LDAF’s) Grain Inspection Program is built on “pride in service” to all aspects of the grain marketing system, from the farmer to elevators.  Louisiana is committed to serving and communicating with all their clients through the grades they issue and training they provide.  Providing anything they can to help Louisiana farmers, and anybody involved in the grain industry is their priority and being “the best they can be” in all aspects of everything they do is their goal.

Louisiana has grading offices in Oak Grove, Delhi, and Jonesville, with headquarters in Baton Rouge.  Barge inspections along the Mississippi River and some of its tributaries comprise most inspections.  Most barges are sampled using diverter type samplers, and the State also provides ellis cup and probe sampling.  The office in Delhi provides unit train inspections on a weekly basis with most grain going to Mexico.

Corn and soybeans are the primary crops inspected, followed by some wheat and sorghum.  Soybeans, wheat, and sorghum are inspected primarily at harvest, while corn is inspected year-round.  Farmers tend to bin their corn on their farms and deliver it to elevators throughout the year.

Program Manager Chad Price said, “The adverse weather that occurs around harvest time in Louisiana determines the grain quality.  Rains associated with southern storms and hurricanes can change the crop quality instantly.  These storms can also delay harvest which only compounds the problem.”  It is critical that farmers in Louisiana are able to harvest as soon as the crop is ready.  Some years the weather cooperates, and the crop is exceptional, and in other years samples straight from the field may have 70 percent damage or more because weather prevented a timely harvest.  Those years where the weather does not cooperate make grading a challenge.  Price added, “Farmers do not know what they have until they put the combine in the field, and a couple of days can make a great difference.”

While the inspection staff is small, they are all fully committed to providing service.  The State employs eight full time inspectors and three laborers that work as samplers and technicians.  During harvest, which typically runs from July through February, they add 10 additional laborers to assist.  Most of these part-time employees return year after year, and employee turnover is extremely rare for all employees.  In Louisiana, inspectors, supervisors and managers are cross trained.  They are licensed and trained to sample, perform technical duties, calibrate machinery and issue certificates.  No one person is dedicated to just one duty.  Cross utilization allows the State to provide customers service whenever and wherever needed.

Ronnie Swayze, former Program Manager, and now part-time employee said there have been many changes since he began in 1982.  When he started, soybeans were about the only grain inspected.  “Farmers growing corn, in those days, fed the corn they grew to their cattle, said Swayze.  The proliferation of corn and sorghum over the years added these grains to their workload.  Also, in the early days, upwards of 80 percent of all sampling was done with a probe.  Today, the majority is done with a diverter sampler, which makes the job of sampling easier, but requires more employees to perform the task.  The rail facility at Delhi has added a steady rail inspection business.  Prior to the Delhi facility, very few rail cars were ever sampled.  The addition of on-farm storage also changed the inspection program from a seasonal barge operation to a year-round operation.  

Price said that what keeps his interest in the grain inspection business is that he can take pride in what he does. “When I grade a sample and put my name on a certificate, I’m proud to be a big part of the marketing of that grain.”  That same pride can be found in all the Louisiana employees. “It’s extremely fulfilling when something you’ve never seen before in the grain world comes up and you’re able to address the issue and assist Louisiana farmers and the grain industry,” added Price.

Price and Swayze also said that Louisiana greatly values the relationship they have with the Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) and that relationship remained strong when their point of contact was moved from the FGIS Port Allen office to the Kansas City office.  They are very appreciative of FGIS’s commitment to the success of the LDAF Grain Inspection Program.

Price and Swayze are quick to give credit to their dedicated employees.  The average experience for employees is approximately 20 years, which includes several new employees that are just as dedicated and willing to do whatever task is needed to service their customers.  They also value the support of LDAF Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M. who is committed to a strong inspection program to ensure the success of Louisiana farmers and the grain industry.  

Champaign-Danville Grain Inspection Departments Inc.

Champaign-Danville Grain Inspection Departments Incorporated operates on two fundamentals. Company President David Ayers says they are “family-oriented, and customer driven”.

Champaign began providing inspection services in 1929. David purchased the company in 1992. In 1992 the agency employed 5 persons. Today they have 65 employees and provide official inspection service in Eastern and West-central Illinois, Western Indiana, and Southwest Michigan.

The agency is headquartered in Urbana, Illinois. They also have offices in Marshall, New Berline, and Hoopeston, Illinois, and Morocco, Indiana. One more office is being planned to meet increasing customer needs. David states that Champaign’s business has changed many times to meet their customer’s needs. Changes include transitions from inspecting boxcars, to hopper cars, to shuttle loaders, to containers. The shift to onsite laboratories was also a significant change over the last fifteen years. Through it all, remaining family-oriented and customer driven has served the agency well.

Champaign primarily inspects corn, soybeans, and soft red winter wheat. Routine mycotoxin tests include aflatoxin, fumonisin, vomotoxin, and occasionally zearalenone. The agency maintains over 50 onsite laboratories. Container inspections are provided at 10 locations, and the agency samples barges at 8 locations along the Illinois River. Phytosanitary inspections are performed on distillers dried grains under an Agricultural Marketing Act agreement with FGIS.

Rail inspections account for most services provided. Champaign performs around 120,000 to 130,000 rail inspections per year and issues over 170,000 certificates annually. David also relates that over the years, industry consolidation has reduced the number of customers. However, the amount of service needed from the remaining customers has greatly increased.

Most grain shipments go to the gulf, the southeast, and Mexico. In addition to barges, with access to the Mississippi River, rail shippers have access to the six major railroads (CSX, BNSF, KCS, CN, UP, and NS) to reach these destinations.

David believes being involved with trade organizations provides a great benefit. Champaign maintains memberships with the National Grain and Feed Association, the Grain Elevator and Processing Society, the Grain and Feed Association of Illinois, the Transportation, Elevator and Grain Merchants Association, and of course AAGIWA. These memberships provide access to a broad range of people throughout the grain industry and allows Champaign to resolve issues that can benefit both the customer and the agency. It is a source of pride at Champaign that people throughout the country contact them for thoughts and information. David attributes this to the contacts made through these memberships. These memberships also help David explain the benefits of the official inspection system.

Interactions with employees and customers throughout the grain industry keep things interesting, and the fact that every day is different makes operating an official agency rewarding for David.

While this year may be a challenge due to the drought, David sees a bright future for the official grain inspection system. It seems that the grain industry’s interest and appreciation for how the official inspection system can help their business continues to grow. Customers are looking for more avenues to sell their grain, and the official system helps them do that, so David sees only growth ahead for the official inspection system.

After 91 years of providing service, Champaign’s family-oriented, and customer driven focus has them well positioned for the future.

Kansas Grain Inspection Service

The Kansas Grain Inspection Service (KGIS) was initially founded by the State of Kansas as a State agency in 1897 at the request of the grain industry. The agency was headquartered in the Wyandotte County Board of Trade office in Kansas City, Kansas. After some discussion, the agency moved to the Kansas City Board of Trade office in Kansas City, Missouri. Before long, the Kansas folks didn’t think having a Kansas State agency headquartered in another State was something, they could support so the agency moved back across the State line to Kansas.

In those early years, the “Chief Grain Inspector of the State of Kansas” was responsible for making the rules reflect the current year’s crop quality which meant the grading rules could change each year. However, when the United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA) was being debated, KGIS let everyone know that they would honor the proposed legislation a year before the USGSA was established.

KGIS’s commitment to the official inspection system has been constant and a cornerstone of how they operate. Their mission statement is “To promote official inspection services to the grain industry, and to provide the most efficient, unbiased and timely service possible”. Working with the industry to show how the official system can be a benefit is a source of pride for KGIS and Agency President Tom Meyer.

In the early years, many employees were employed due to political affiliations. Realizing the agency needed to portray the most integrity possible, the State passed a bill outlawing this practice in 1932.

During those early years, the agency employed around 240 employees and had upwards of 40 inspection laboratories. Many of these laboratories were called “Guaranteed Offices” where KGIS had a full-time presence to service that site, and if the inspection revenue did not cover the cost, the elevator or mill would pick up the difference.

By the 60s, KGIS had around 300 employees. Many of which were samplers that reported directly to the rail yards to sample boxcars and hopper cars. It was not uncommon for a single railyard to have 400 cars needing sampling each day.

In 1975 the agency had eight full time offices and only two Guaranteed Offices. However, they still had 200 employees, half of which were samplers.

In 1996 the State began an effort to find State programs that could work better as private organizations, and grain inspection was a prime candidate for this effort. The industry also realized that transitioning to a private organization would allow them to receive better service. As a State agency when new equipment was needed the KGIS would have to go before the State legislature to obtain funds. Usually the legislature would appropriate less funds than needed and the grain industry had to deal with not receiving the full amount of service they needed. This all changed in 1997 when the State agreed to let KGIS become a private agency.

Transitioning to a private agency allowed KGIS to expand its services to include Colorado, southwestern Nebraska, and southeastern Wyoming. KGIS is currently headquartered in Topeka with offices in Colby, Concordia, Dodge City, Kansas City, Salina, Wichita, and one office outside of Kansas in Sidney, Nebraska. They also have 30 onsite laboratories. KGIS employs approximately 115 full time and 12 part-time employees.

On any given day KGIS can grade 15 different commodities including edible beans under their Agricultural Marketing Act agreement with FGIS. The agency also has two harvests each year to contend with. The first harvest is the summer wheat harvest. The second harvest includes corn, soybean, sorghum, sunflower, confectionary sunflower seeds, and edible beans in the fall.

Tom Meyer is quick to point out that each of these harvests, and each commodity within the harvest, presents different challenges each year. It’s that challenge and KGIS’s desire to meet those challenges that keeps Tom and the staff captivated with the grain inspection business. With all the different commodities to inspect and the various tests the industry needs, no two days are the same. Tom also points out that on any given day they may be loading six different unit trains, each under a different loading plan. It is also not uncommon to have a unit train consisting of three different types of grain. Making sure you have the right persons in place to grade all those grains can be a challenge.

KGIS sees nothing but a bright future ahead. They believe the grain industry sees the value of the official inspection system and as the need for more information about product quality grows so will the need for the official system. One only has to look to the increase in mycotoxin testing brought about by the Food Safety Modernization Act to see that everyone wants more information, and the official system can provide that information. The greatest challenge is finding employees that want to work in agricultural industries, which is a challenge for everyone in agriculture to overcome.

The addition of containerized grain inspection and weighing in Kansas City, Kansas has also been an exciting and welcome addition to the cadre of services that can be provided.

The ability to work with the industry to promote the official system is a source of great pride for KGIS. It is a source of gratification that the industry comes to KGIS with questions and trusts their input to work through problems. KGIS is a firm believer in conducting grading schools for the industry. These schools provide the industry with the opportunity to learn the purpose of the official system and opens the doors for discussions between the two parties. Those discussions create trust, cooperation, and opportunities for how best to move forward in these changing times.

Service is also a source of pride at KGIS, and Tom is quick to point out that this is because of the commitment each employee at KGIS has to the industry and KGIS. There has never been a train that lacked a crew from KGIS being there ready to provide service. Tom gives KGIS employees all the credit for their willingness to work on an hour’s notice that makes this possible.

After 123 years committed to promoting the official grain inspection service and meeting customer’s needs through every change, everyone can count on KGIS carrying the official inspection system forward for many more years.

Wisconsin Department of Agriculture

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection provides official grain inspection and weighing services at the Superior Port area.  

Wisconsin says their mission statement is their mantra for all they do.  “To promote and facilitate the marketing and fair competition between buyers and sellers of grain commodities for the overall benefits of farmers, consumers and American agriculture.”

The State’s grain program is proud of its ability to adapt to the ever-changing market demands with limited staff.

Wisconsin operates six laboratories and provides service at four export elevators and one domestic facility.  The staff of 15 full-time, and 9 part-time employees typically inspect Durum and Hard Red Spring wheat, Canola, and Flaxseed.

When it comes to what is interesting about the grain inspection business, Grain Program Manager Robert Moore, says “It’s interesting how politics and global markets effect the demand for grain in our port.”

Robert adds that he sees a lot of future opportunities as long as they continue to adapt to the needs of their customers.  With the State’s commitment to their mission statement, this is sure to be the case.

Minot Grain Inspection

Minot Grain Inspection prides themselves in providing the best service they can throughout northwest North Dakota.  The agency was founded in 1947 by Olav Wefold who sold the business to James Thom in 1965.  James’s son David is now the agency president, and he still has his dad grade a sample or two when he comes by the office.  David’s daughter Jessica works at the agency as an inspector with a wheat license and is preparing for her canola license.   

Until 1965 the agency just graded grain.  After purchasing the agency, the industry needed protein analysis performed on the wheat they were marketing.  To meet the industry’s needs, James purchased a small house across the street from the main elevator in Minot and began performing protein analysis using the kjeldahl method.  David remembers that the place was really hot with all those banks of kjedahal apparatuses running.  At that time FGIS did not have an official protein program.  Minot began performing the analysis officially once FGIS established the official protein program.

In the late 1980s Minot began performing Falling Number tests and in the late 90s they began performing mycotoxin tests to meet the needs of the grain industry in northwest North Dakota.

The Agency’s headquarters and laboratory are in Minot.  They have four additional onsite laboratories at shuttle loaders and 16 other locations that load shuttle trains where they perform sampling.  Approximately 25 employees work at the agency grading many different grains.  Wheat, soybeans, barley, oats, canola, flax, sunflower seeds, peas, beans and lentils are all routinely graded by the Minot inspection team.  Durum and Spring wheat are the primary grains inspected, with soybeans coming in next.  Soybeans are relatively new having become a popular choice for producers in the area. While soybeans have moved north into Minot’s area, canola has also moved in from Canada in recent years.

Minot has always been known to go the extra mile for its customers.  Years back the elevators would load railcars and sell them at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange the next day.  In those days actual samples of the grain were presented at the exchange so buyers could see what they were bidding on.  Once cars were sampled Minot employees would rush back to the laboratory and cut out a portion of the sample to be sent overnight to the Exchange.  Submitted samples representing cars were also delivered to the post office and picked up in the afternoon. Samples were sent overnight to the Exchange by train whenever possible.  However, the train was not always that predicable, and in the winter the weather made the train even less predictable.  If the train would not meet the customer’s need the samples would be taken to the airport and placed on commercial planes to be transported to the Exchange.  Air shipping was always more expensive, so the train was used whenever possible.  Once airline consolidation occurred shipping cost rose as the airlines considered the samples as luggage.  Samples were also placed on the plane when samplers could not get back in time to place them on the train.  David remembers making many trips to the airport at 3:00 am when they opened to get them on the plane so they could be on the trading floor that very morning.

Getting samples to the Exchange was only part of the process.  Inspection results also needed to accompany the samples before the Exchange opened.  Inspectors would grade the samples late into the night to get enough done so that the morning inspectors could get the remaining samples done before the Exchange opened.  Sometimes when there were a lot of samples, inspections were preformed all night.  The secretary would call and read the grades to the folks at the Exchange.  It was a great leap forward when Fax machines arrived, and information could be sent by automatically dialing Minneapolis.  While other official agencies performed similar activities, Minot was the agency farthest away from Minneapolis, so they had a greater challenge.

Although David has been in the grain inspection business his entire adult life, he continues to be fascinated by the business.  As David says, “every year is a new and distinctly different challenge.”  Two years ago, the area experienced a drought which left the agency with little to do at times, but on some days, there would be multiple trains loading at the same time.  This year, although the year started out dry, record rains came in the fall and there are still corn and sunflower fields were still being harvested into March.  Some wheat and canola fields were never harvested. The news recently reported that a combine had caught on fire while harvesting sunflower seed.  While combine fires are not that uncommon, it’s the first time anyone remembers it happening in February.  The unpredictability of grain inspection is what keeps the grain inspection business interesting for David.

Minot strives to provide whatever services their customers want.  They have been providing unofficial falling number tests but based on customer requests they will soon be providing them officially.  The industry was interested in falling number test three years ago and Minot worked with another agency to provide the service.  For the next two years there were no requests, and now due to the poor crop quality, falling number tests are being requested. 

The agency has been in four different buildings in Minot since it began.  They have been in their current location since 1984.  When the current building was built there was a great deal of talk about the need for truck sampling so they built a two story building with a balcony and a ramp so they could probe trucks off the second story, but that does not happen as much now.  Minot may probe about 100 trucks a year at this time.

While the days of having to get samples to the Exchange have disappeared, and the internet has replaced phone calls and fax machines, what has not changed is Minot’s and the Thom family’s commitment to provide folks in northwest North Dakota with the service they need to best market their grain.

Aberdeen Grain Inspection

Aberdeen Grain inspection, Inc. (AGI) was incorporated on May 8, 1957. Milbert Schick was a WWII Veteran as well as one of the original founders of AGI and remained active in the business as President and keeping the books until 2010 and just recently passed away in March of 2019 at the age of 94. He was also an original “multitasker” being able to talk on the phone and use his adding machine to do accounting work all at the same time. He had a playful and endearing spirit and always had a quick comeback to make others laugh and feel at ease in his presence. He was never afraid to take risks as exemplified when he would joke that driving with a seatbelt was driving scared. 

John Schroeder was Official Agency Manager (OAM) from 1972-1986 and moved to Arizona upon retirement. Mike Hoesing has been (OAM) since 1986 to present.

Mike started his career in 1977 at Fremont Grain Inspection (FGI) when Eldon Davis was the owner. Eldon went to lunch with Mike’s dad and complained about an employee that would call in sick and show up for bowling league the same night. Mike applied for and got the job. Then in August of 1978 Mike was preparing to go to college and ran into a neighborhood friend and mentioned FGI may have an opening so Mike’s friend applied and got the job and is the current owner of FGI and long-time AAGIWA Treasurer Dave Reeder. Dave has thanked and blamed Mike for getting him into this business over the past 40 years. Mike then worked at Lincoln Inspection Service and started as an AGI SSP manager in 1984 and became OAM in 1986. 

Back in the mid 80’s AGI’s biggest challenge was wheat protein complaints. There were a LOT of protein complaints, so many in fact that during Mike’s first month as OAM the Governor’s office called and scheduled a mandatory meeting with Mike, the Governor, and 10 members of the grain trade that were very upset that AGI’s proteins were higher than at destination. At the meeting the new, 28-year-old, manager explained (in a crackly voice) that our proteins were checking well with our Field Office and suggested appealing origin and/or destination proteins. This got Mike out of the room alive and eventually exposed that many of proteins were, surprisingly to applicant, not official at destination. The appeal process did slow down the protein complaints however the approval of the whole grain protein tester eliminated the complaints completely!

AGI’s next biggest challenge was the staffing for onsite lab grading as I’m sure many of our colleagues have experienced too. AGI started onsite inspections in 1984 and currently has 24 onsite labs and due to offering monetary and time off incentives to employees staffing is generally adequate. However, several times a year an event, usually weather related, causes many onsite labs to need service on the same day and usually on the weekends. Additional challenges are the “surprise trains” on weekends that I am sure all agencies are familiar with. 

The most urgent call Mike ever received at Aberdeen Grain came at 2:00 AM, when his son Brian called from the route he drives to pick up grain samples, saying that the throttle was stuck on the vehicle, it was going 85 mph and the brakes were giving out and he was approaching a town. Mike said “WHAT put it in neutral!” Brian said “that will blow the engine!” but then decided that blowing the engine was a better scenario than a fiery death! Needless to say, we brought him a new vehicle to continue on and we retired that vehicle! 

The main crops grown in AGI’s area are Corn, Soybeans, Hard Red Spring (HRS) and Hard Red Winter (HRW) Wheat. It is a very difficult market due to the HRS and HRW growing areas overlapping. This often creates challenging samples for our wheat inspectors. 

AGI was honored to receive the Gold Standard award from FGIS in May of 2017 and is proud of our good working relationship with the BAR and we are also very happy they do not charge us for all the opinion samples we send them. Also, the video proctoring for inspector exams is the best idea, in our opinion, to come along since the whole grain protein tester.

AGI would like to thank all current and former employees and recognize 8 employees that have worked for AGI over 25 years.

• Lance Ducheneaux (SSP Manager 26 years) (currently employed)

• Margaret Thornberg (Lead Secretary 30 years) (currently employed)     

• Mark Ducheneaux (Inspector, SSP Manager 31years) (disabled)                                     

• Vern Rempher (Inspector, Seed Specialist 34 years) (deceased)                   

• Neil Likness (Tech 38 years) (currently employed)                                                                

• Jesse Wagemann (Inspector, Operations Manager, AQAS 39 years) (currently employed)          

• Robert Weeks (Sampler 40 years) (currently employed)                                                            

• Allen Lehr (Inspector, former AQAS, 57 years) (retired in October of 2019)

Also, a special thanks to family members that were sort of drafted into the business:

• Wife Shirley Hoesing: (Accounting, Mycotoxins)

• Son Brian Hoesing: (Sampler, route driver)

• Son-in-law Nick Stotz: (Inspector, Mycotoxin Director)

• Daughter Erin Stotz: (Inspector, CPA) Erin had a great job as a CPA with a National Accounting Firm and then realized the grain inspection industry is so much more rewarding. 

Amarillo Grain Exchange

The Amarillo Grain Exchange is a family owned business providing official inspection throughout North-central Texas and the Oklahoma panhandle. The agency’s motto is “Service with Integrity” a motto that has been a mainstay of the agency’s almost 100 years of service to the grain industry.

Cash and Sharon Burris are second generation owners and believe their agency is the oldest business in Amarillo. The agency is headquartered in Amarillo, Texas and has a second office in Guymon, Oklahoma.

In March of 1920, John F. Ross called a meeting of about 15 Amarillo grain men at the Amarillo Hotel to organize the Amarillo Grain Association, which was to be the forerunner of the present-day Amarillo Grain Exchange. It was Mr. Ross’ vision that Amarillo was destined to be the grain center of this section of Texas and one of the major shipping points of the Southwest. The company operated for eight years as an association, then received a State charter and incorporated as Amarillo Grain Exchange, Inc. on February 6, 1928. Ross, a licensed inspector, was the company’s first Chief Inspector until 1931, when C.M. Goodnight succeeded him. The office’s location changed several times until its last move in 1966.

The Burris family became involved when Don Burris’ father, who was the Weighmaster at the Lubbock Grain Exchange, told him the Amarillo Grain Exchange was looking for a Weighmaster and he should go listen to what they had to offer. Don was hired in August of 1958 as a Weighmaster; by 1976 he was the General Manager of the Amarillo Grain Exchange, Inc. Don came from very humble childhood, but quickly gained the confidence of everyone at the exchange and all the customers. He was involved with the Terminal Grain Weighmasters National Association and named their ‘Man of the Year” in 1969.

It was in 1977 that controversies concerning grain inspection agencies throughout the nation arose. Although, Amarillo Grain Exchange experienced no such controversy, it was impacted just the same, by the national uproar. Growers were concerned by the fact that most inspection agencies were run by a Board of Directors consisting mostly of the owners and operators of grain elevators and feared this would adversely affect pricing. The Federal Government stepped into this situation and ordered that all conflicts of interest be dissolved. No longer could an elevator owner be involved as an owner or investor in a grain inspection agency. The government required that inspection agencies meeting this banned criterion be sold to people with no involvement in elevator ownership.

Don Burris was just the man to fill the bill, because he was respected by the Exchange and its customers. In June of 1978 the Amarillo Grain Exchange, Inc. asked the Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) to approve the transfer of operations to Don Burris, the current General Manager of the exchange. Don had no connection to farming, held no investments in any elevators, and was not barred from ownership by government policy. On August 14, 1978, his designation as sole owner of the Amarillo Grain Exchange, Inc. was approved. In December of 1983. Don borrowed $300,000 from the bank on a 30-year loan and paid it off in three years. Don added another full-time laboratory in Guymon, Oklahoma. Don was self-educated trough correspondence courses and with his pride of ownership, devotion to customer service, and integrity the business continued to succeed. A 1982 newspaper article reported that Amarillo had expanded to the largest private agency in the nation with offices in Amarillo, Fort Worth, Guymon and Lubbock.

Don Burris held the position of owner and official agency manager for the next 22 years, until his death in November of 2000 when Cash Burris became President of the corporation. Cash along with his wife Sharon, both manage the agency.

Cash’s involvement with the agency started as a teenager doing everything from sweeping the floor, dumping file samples and changing oil in the company cars. In the early days the agency used sedans with tubes strapped to the top as the means of transportation to probe cars and collect submitted samples. Once Cash finished high school, he began working full time at the agency along with his older brothers.

In the early years large amounts of wheat were grown in the area, and there were small elevators everywhere. As time passed, the train tracks were taken up from these small elevators and a few large elevators took their place. Farming also changed. Cotton began to make inroads into wheat acres, and urban sprawl depleted some farmland. In the 70s feedlots began to spring up in the area. Farmers began growing more corn and sorghum for the feedlots. The feedlots also began purchasing grain from other areas to meet their needs.

The feedlots were not early adaptors of the official grain inspection system. However, as they began to receive grain that did not meet the quality, they had paid for they realized something had to change. They began working with the grain industry to develop the Southwest Scale of Discounts for grain not meeting contract specifications and they began using the official inspection system to independently determine quality.

This bolstered the need for official inspection and offset some of the wheat inspection losses. Amarillo has eleven employees at its two locations and services four shuttle loaders, two of which are sessional. Shuttle trains typically go to the Gulf or Mexico. Eighty percent of their business comes from the feedlots. Corn is the primary grain inspected with wheat and sorghum making up the rest.

The agency was tested about five years ago when a multi-year drought hit the area, but through Cash and Sharon’s resolve, and some hard choices, they made it through the dry spell and are thriving today. Cash says that “everyone at Amarillo wears at least two hats, and Sharon and I wear four or five”.

“Service with Integrity” continues to serve the agency well as they get ready to start their second century of service to the grain industry.

Amarillo has a wonderful corporate history documented on their website.

Eastern Iowa Grain Inspection & Weighing Service, Inc.

Eastern Iowa Grain Inspection & Weighing Service, Inc. (EIGIS) traces its roots back to Joseph Slater Sr. When Joe returned from the Army to his hometown of Buffalo, New York, he started his career as a Grain Inspector. During one of his visits to see his wife’s family in Iowa, a service friend told him the Davenport Grain Exchange was looking for a manager. Joe accepted the manager position and relocated to Blue Grass, Iowa in 1951. In 1965, while working for the Davenport Grain Exchange, Joe started the Muscatine Grain Inspection Service which would be renamed in 1973 to Eastern Iowa Grain Inspection & Weighing Service, Inc. The Davenport Grain Exchange was dissolved in 1977, so Joe Slater as owner of EIGIS requested the designation for Davenport, Iowa.

Joe believed that accurate and consistent grades was the cornerstone of a successful official agency. Doing things right the first time was his motto, so he invested heavily in training all his employees. Over time his customers learned that they were fortunate to have an official agency with these values. Being highly regarded for accurate and consistent grades by their customers is a great source of pride for EIGIS and has sustained them during difficult times.

In the early years, the work was primarily barge inspections and when the upper Mississippi River closed for the winter there was little work. To keep his employees busy doing the slow months, Joe found other jobs for his inspectors. Longtime employee, and historian, Gary Wiebler says they even tore down barns for the wood. Realizing that the agency needed year-round business, Joe pursued truck and rail inspections. When other areas became available Joe would submit his application and FGIS continued to award more territory to EIGIS. The agency has now grown to operate in eastern Iowa, northern Illinois, and the entire state of Wisconsin.

Joe was always adamant about being involved with associations such as AAGIWA, formerly the National Association of Chief Grain Inspectors, which Joe held several positions including President. Joe was also the founder and past President of the Iowa Association of Grain Inspectors and also served as president of a regional association called the North Central Grain Inspection Agencies Association. Joe believed it was important for EIGIS employees to meet with other agencies to determine how best to resolve issues all the agencies were encountering.

All private and State official agencies owe a debt of gratitude to Joe Slater. Joe testified before congress in the mid-1970’s in defense of the private and State agencies when congress was seriously considering federalizing all domestic grain inspections. It has been said that if it wasn’t for Joe’s testimony, the domestic official system would be entirely different.

Joe passed away in 1994 and his youngest son, Dave, became Agency Manager and part-owner of EIGIS. Although Dave was relatively young (early 30s), he had worked at the agency through his high school and college years. The transition was seamless for the employees and customers. Dave was a natural and the motto he lived by was “Treat every customer and employee fairly, equitably and with dignity and respect.” He embraced all his father’s values and he constantly engaged all employees throughout the organization to find better ways to perform their jobs. Dave encouraged everyone to come forth if they had a better way of doing anything. Dave lost his life in a tragic boating accident in October, 2012 at the age of fifty and is still deeply missed today.

EIGIS has always pursued new ways to make the inspection process more efficient and safer. The agency was the first to have a diverter type sampler on the upper Mississippi River, and when a professor from Iowa State University had an idea to develop a truck probe, Eastern Iowa was there to help get it approved by FGIS. This was the precursor of the mechanical truck probe used throughout the industry today. EIGIS’s passion for improving the official inspection system continued with their work to obtain video rail car stowage examinations, and most recently their work to obtain FGIS approval to perform video barge stowage examinations.

Treating employees fairly by providing adequate compensation and working with them to provide time off for family and other important events has always been a part of the family business. Mark Fulmer, current EIGIS Agency Manager, says on any given day an employee may need to work a 30-hour shift inspecting a shuttle train, so there needs to be give and take between the company and the employees is essential.

EIGIS is headquartered in Davenport, Iowa, and has area offices in Dubuque, Iowa, Oquawka, Rochelle, & Rockton in Illinois, and Beaver Dam & Chippewa Falls in Wisconsin. The agency employs approximately 85 employees, who inspect primarily corn, soybeans, and soft red winter wheat, along with a few other grains on an occasional basis. The agency performs rail, truck, barge, and container inspections. They have 22 onsite rail laboratories, one inbound truck laboratory at a dog food manufacturer, and provides container services at multiple locations to make them one of the top agencies in the country for volume. EIGIS also have a cooperative agreement with FGIS to inspect Distillers Dried Grains, Spices, Corn Soy Blend and other many other processed commodities under the Agricultural Marketing Act.

Trade relations is an important part of their success. EIGIS is committed to providing grading seminars to the trade. While some may think this only provides the trade with the means to do their own grading, EIGIS uses this opportunity to show the trade how difficult grading is and that the official system is an asset, rather than a liability to the trade.

Linsey Moffit-Tobin, Quality Assurance Specialist, says the agency is committed to outreach programs. EIGIS has been deeply involved in Iowa’s “Ag in the Classroom” Program by explaining grain inspection through interactive exercises to the next generation at fairs and in schools. Recently, we did a presentation on grain inspection to 1,100 third graders. EIGIS annually participates in 3-4 conferences including the Moses Organic Conference to inform participants about the official system. Exploring how the official system can be improved through technology and expanding into other commodities such as hemp is a never-ending pursuit for EIGIS.

EIGIS began as a family owned company and remains a family owned company today. The values that Joe and Dave instilled are still in place today and with those values there is no doubt that the company will be a success for many years to come.

Plainview Grain Inspection

The Davis family connection to the Plainview Grain Inspection and Weighing Service began in 1951 when Bob Davis went to work for the company. Bob and his wife Edna purchased the agency along with one partner in 1977. Their son Bill worked at the agency during summers and weekends while in college. After college, Bill worked for the Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) in Kansas City as a grader for three years. When FGIS scaled back its operations in 1981, Bill returned to the family business.

Working for his father and mother, Bill did a great deal of the heavy lifting jobs around the agency and bought into the agency. In 1995, about four years after his dad passed, Bill purchased the remaining shares of the agency from his mother and one other individual. Bill’s son and daughter now work at the agency and he is proud to say that three generations of Davis’ have provided official service to the Plainview, Texas area.

In the early years the agency’s business involved grading hopper cars at local cooperatives. When shuttle loaders entered the market, the cooperatives could not compete, and this business went away. Not to be deterred, Plainview developed a business model to inspect inbound grain to feedlots on a submitted sample basis. Around the same time the feedlots developed the Southwest Scale of Discounts which allowed them to discount grain received on a submitted sample basis.

Most of the agency business is submitted samples from the feedlots. Those samples are not as easy to grade as many might think. The feedlots purchase a lot of distressed grain and the type of grain varies widely. When there are problems with a crop somewhere else in the country it will most likely make its way to the feedlots. Some years it may be barley, other years it may be spring wheat, so Plainview must maintain licenses for almost all grains and be proficient in all their damages.

Little grain is grown locally as it once was. Drought and depressed wheat prices have cause much of the local wheat crop to be green chopped or bailed and sent to dairies. Occasionally, sorghum is grown as a second crop when the cotton crop fails. Plainview does have two onsite shuttle loading laboratories that are used sporadically. They have seven employees and with upwards of 50 feedlots providing samples daily, it can be a challenge when a shuttle loader needs service.

Plainview has an Agricultural Marketing Agreement with FGIS to grade edible beans. Blackeye beans are grown locally, and the agency services a packaging plant that receives pinto and black beans that are repackaged for the School Lunch Program. They also grade sunflower seeds for a birdseed company.

Bill says what keeps him interested in grain inspection is that he really likes to grade grain, and the variety of grains that they encounter each day means that grading is never boring. No doubt that with the Davis family’s ability to find a way to provide official service in an everchanging market, they will continue to provide service for many years to come.

North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Service’s Grain Inspection Program is responsible for providing service throughout the entire State and has been in operation since the 1950s.

The State is proud of the team they have built and has a singular goal to provide world class service in a timely manner with accurate results. They are proud of where they have come from, where they are, and where they are going as an official grain inspection agency.  

Jason Jernigan, Program Director, states his passion is to make the North Carolina Grain Inspection Program one of the best, and it comes from his love of agriculture and his desire to be part of agriculture within the state of North Carolina. Jason grew up on a tobacco and soybean farm his father operated until three years ago and has agriculture in his blood. Grain inspections allows him to keep that close relationship with agriculture. Jason adds, “there is no I in team” so he attributes all their success to the State’s employees.

Currently, the North Carolina Grain Inspection team consists of nine permanent employees who are all licensed graders, one office support employee, and 20 seasonal employees, three of which are licensed graders.

The North Carolina’s Grain Inspection program has offices in Fayetteville, Elizabeth City, and Selma. Their headquarters office is in Raleigh, where administrative support is housed. Selma is the central grading office and grades inbound trucks loaded onto trains destined for export as well as facilities in Gainesville, Georgia, and Fayetteville. Selma also provides container inspection service. The Fayetteville office grades soybean trucks going into a processing facility as well as inspecting railcar samples. The Elizabeth City office handles export container inspections exclusively.

While ninety-eight percent of all samples the North Carolina Grain Inspections program grades are soybeans, a limited amount of Soft Red Winter wheat, and corn samples are included annually. Inspection services are available for rye, sorghum, oats, and mixed grain as well. During the 2018 grading season, 29,217 official commercial trucks, 4, 515 submitted samples, 7,500 containers, and 37 railcars were inspected. North Carolina’s Grain Inspection program also provides occasional inspection services under an Agricultural Marketing Act agreement and have inspected rice and edible beans for the school lunch program to assist FGIS’ Stuttgart Field Office. Additionally, inspection services have been provided to distiller’s dried grains, and soybean meal under this agreement.

Recently, with the ongoing tariff negotiations, the North Carolina Grain Inspections Program has experienced a drop from its usual 900 to 1,000 railcars annual inspections. Jason Jernigan points out that North Carolina is a grain deficit State, in that the State’s poultry and swine industry can consume everything produced within the State and must import additional grain from other states to meet their needs. To offset the decrease in railcar inspections, the North Carolina Grain Inspections Program has seen an increase in submitted samples from outside their boundaries. Jason attributes this to the outstanding quality his team provides. They strive to provide accurate and timely results, and apparently the word has gotten out which makes the State proud.

The North Carolina Grain Inspections Program is currently assisting the State of South Carolina through a service agreement for a couple of container loading facilities in northern South Carolina. Jason is a proponent of helping others and paying good deeds forward. He points out that several years ago, the State of Virginia offered assistance which allowed North Carolina to stabilize their operation. Jason remembers those efforts well and is glad to offer that same support to the state of South Carolina in order to help them successfully get through a re-organization and re-gain their self-sufficiency with the Official Inspection System.

No doubt, the North Carolina Grain Program employees, along with Jason, want to continue to keep North Carolina as a Top Performing Agency and look forward to overcoming the challenges agriculture often brings.

Omaha Grain Inspection Service

The Omaha Grain Inspection Service traces its roots back to the founding of the Omaha Grain Exchange in the early 1900’s. The Probst family has been there for most of those years. Richard Probst was the President of the grain inspection portion of the exchange for many years. When the Exchange dissolved in 1985, Richard and his wife Darlene purchased the inspection portion of the Exchange.

The devotion to serve the grain industry has never wavered, as is the agency’s desire to provide good jobs for their dedicated employees. Richard and Darlene’s desire to create a strong family business also continues to this day. Richard’s son Brian now owns and operates the agency, Brian’s wife Mindy is the Agency Manager, and their son Mitch works at the agency.

Omaha operates within about a 60-mile radius of Omaha, Nebraska. The agency was headquartered in Omaha for many years until last July when they moved to a much nicer location in Council Bluffs, Iowa. They inspect primarily corn, soybeans, and Hard Red Winter Wheat. In the past few years they have begun inspecting grain products such as, Distillers Dried Grains under the Agricultural Marketing Act.

Omaha provides onsite inspections at six shuttle train loading facilities, and three container loading sites. After a 20-year lapse, they resumed providing barge inspections last year. The agency has 19 full time employees, some of which have been with the agency for 40-years. Mindy says the historical knowledge held by the long-term employees is a wonderful asset. They provided valuable insight when the agency resumed inspecting barges.

Staffing for the unpredictable shuttle loaders is a constant challenge. The loaders have little notice when trains will arrive, and employees must be available 24/7 to meet their needs. Mindy says taking good care of your employees is imperative to be able to deal with shuttle loaders.

Brian says that challenges also arise when new facilities are built that do not request services and take grain away from your regular customers. Grain processors and ethanol plants are prime examples. That’s when you have to look for other opportunities such as providing additional services that customers need. Mindy says that is exactly what Omaha has done. They have begun providing falling number, and GMO testing. They continue to seek other services they can provide to grow their business.

Mindy says the agency has three principle goals; 1) Providing great service to the grain industry, 2) Providing great jobs for their employees, and 3) Providing a sustainable and growing business for generations to come. Meeting these goals is a good thing every day for the management team at the Omaha Grain Inspection Service.

For more information see their website by clicking here.

Mid-Iowa Grain Inspection

Mid-Iowa Grain Inspection Service provides official service in eastern Iowa, southeast Minnesota and in central Illinois.

Renee Blickensderfer is the agency’s President and Official Agency Manager. Mid-Iowa agency was established in 1974. The agency has also purchased the McCrea agency in 2015, and the Central Illinois Grain Inspection Agency in 2017. The previous Central Illinois owner, Monte Wierman, is a member of the current Mid-Iowa board for continuity.

Renee credits the agency’s success to its employees. As Renee says, “if it wasn’t for your staff doing things right and working as team, you wouldn’t be in business”, and doing things right takes a lot of effort. The agency has approximately 70 employees. They are proud and gratified that 16 employees have been with providing official inspections for 5 years, 9 of them for 10 plus years, 20 for over 15-20 years, and 3 over 30 plus years. One part-time employee is a retired FGIS employee from the Cedar Rapids Field Office.

The Agency is headquartered in Cedar Rapids Iowa and has offices in Bloomington, Peoria Illinois, Clinton, Iowa, Clayton, Iowa, and Winona, Minnesota. They have a product testing laboratory in Elwood, Illinois that performs unofficial analyses of various products. The Elwood office recently obtained ISO 17025 certification for its Foss NIR DS 2500 that analyses protein, fat, fiber, moisture, ash, starch, calcium, sulfur, phosphorus, hunter color. The agency is proud of the work that went into obtaining the ISO 17025 certification.

Mid-Iowa samples rail, barge and truck shipments. They maintain 14 onsite rail laboratories and three truck laboratories. Corn and soybeans make up most of the grain inspected with some oats and wheat inspected at their Cedar Rapids office. The agency also performs many non-GMO tests unofficially. Mid-Iowa inspected approximately 400,000 official commercial trucks, 30,000 railcars, 2,000 barges, and 15,000 containers.

As for Renee, she began her inspection career during her junior year in high school working part time at the Decatur Grain Inspection Official Agency. As a farm girl, she enjoyed the work and the people with whom she worked. After graduation, at the age of just 19, she obtained her corn and soybean grading license from the Peoria Field Office. She was told by the field office that she was the youngest person to be licensed by them and the only female. Her hard work has been noticed and propelled her, first to Office Manager, then Regional Manager, and now President.

For more information about Mid-Iowa check out their website here.

Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries

The Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries is both designated and delegated by FGIS to provide official inspection services throughout the State of Alabama.

Ash Guesnard, Chief Inspector, says diversity is the key to their operation.  Grain inspection makes up less than half of what the State’s Federal State Inspection Division does.  The Division also inspects peanuts, fruits, vegetables, and containers, along with performing good handling practices/good agricultural practices for farmers within the state, all under Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) authority.

Grain inspection activities are performed at their Mobile location.  While the ship laboratory handles the export inspection and weighing, a laboratory near the elevator handles all other inspections.  Requests for service in the northern part of the state have been sporadic for many years, therefore Alabama entered into a gentlemen’s agreement with Midsouth Grain Inspection Service to provide service in northern Alabama.  Ash says this agreement allows customers in north Alabama to obtain service quicker, and at a lower cost due to reduced travel expenses.

The state has eleven employees in their inspection program, eight of which perform grain inspection and weighing along with the other types of inspections.  

Alabama’s export ship workload is dependent on the local harvest and what is happening on the Mississippi River.  When there are problems getting grain down the Mississippi to the New Orleans elevators, ships may be diverted to Mobile for loading.  Most of the grain loaded for export is received by rail from the midwest, while local grain arrives in trucks.  Soybeans, soft red winter wheat, and corn make up the bulk of grains inspected. Alabama also provides mycotoxin testing. Over the last three years, the state has averaged inspecting approximately 15 ships (26.7 million bushels), 2,000 official commercial trucks, 300 submits, and 200 mycotoxin samples per year.  Although requests for inspections have declined from many years ago, they have remained stable for the last few years, and are predicted to remain at the current levels for the foreseeable future.

The state’s primary customer is the export elevator in Mobile, and the state is proud to be able to meet their needs.  The state continues to be supervised by FGIS’ New Orleans Field Office.  

Having inspected many other commodities under AMS’ authority for numerous years, means they are familiar working with AMS.  Ash anticipates FGIS’ recent move to AMS will unify inspection procedures.  Recently, he was at a meeting where the peanut industry and inspectors were trying to develop stowage exam procedures for containers. Ash was able to inform them that FGIS already had extensive procedures for this type of inspection.  Hopefully, this type of sharing can continue. 

While it is difficult to predict the level of grain inspections from year to year, having inspectors that actively inspect other products allows the state to be ready and available for the grain industry when needed.  The state and its employees take pride in being able to support marketing Alabama’s diverse commodities.

Washington State Department of Ag

The State of Washington’s Grain Inspection Program holds two unique positions among all official agencies. They inspect approximately one-third of all grain leaving the United States, and they operate under a Federal/State agreement with the Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) being delegated and designated.

Headquartered in Olympia, the program has laboratories at seven export facilities and six domestic offices to serve producers and marketers throughout Washington.  The Othello and Quincy offices primarily provide pulse inspections, while offices in Colfax, Pasco, Spokane, and Tumwater primarily inspect grain.  The agency is staffed with approximately 150 fulltime dedicated employees, with additional employees added during harvest.

Phil Garcia, Program Manager, states that being responsible for both mandatory export inspections, and permissive domestic inspections allows the State to assist all segments of Washington’s grain industry.  The State’s domestic and mandatory customers both demand excellent service, and quality results, which the State is committed to providing.

Operating under the Federal/State agreement, Washington works in cooperation with their own FGIS Field Office Manager and Assistant Manager on-site in Olympia which they report to rather than the FGIS office in Kansas City.  Having the FGIS Portland Field Office just across the river also means the State has immediate access to additional FGIS assistance.  The Field Office Manager is always available and ready to answer their questions and work in any way to assist the State in support of the official grain inspection system.  The Assistant Manager functions as a Quality Assurance Specialist and provides practical inspector testing. 

Washington inspects a wide variety of grains, including Soft White Wheat grown primarily in the Pacific Northwest.  To meet international buyers exacting specifications, Soft White Wheat is sometimes mixed with White Club Wheat to create Western White Wheat.  Washington’s inspectors must be able to accurately determine these and other classes of wheat to maintain these critical markets.  The State also inspects significant amounts of Hard Red Winter and Hard Red Spring Wheat, while corn and soybeans make up most of the grain exported.  

Washington also has an agreement to provide services under the Agricultural Marketing Act for the wide variety of pulses graded on the eastern side of the State, and to perform falling number tests.  The State provides official falling number tests to meet the needs of their customers. In addition to the export ships, the State inspects containers, rail cars, and auger-bottom barges capable of carrying 3,600 tons, along with warehouse lots of pulses. 

Phil states that the program’s employees are their best asset and he couldn’t be prouder of them. The employee’s commitment to professionalism and accuracy to meet all their stakeholders’ expectations is exemplary. It is the employees’ pride in themselves, their hard work, and their commitment to using the latest technology that has garnered respect from their stakeholders.  This commitment to quality service includes working with FGIS by providing supervision and checking samples, allowing them to obtain FGIS’s Gold Standard for service.

Employees undergo a two-year training program to become an inspector, and fifteen months of that time is spent just learning how to grade wheat.  An employee must pass the test for five separate grains, including wheat, to be an inspector for the State of Washington.  If they pass the test for four additional grains they are considered a senior inspector.

Washington is always willing and able to assist other official agencies in need.  They have assisted others by grading edible beans and providing mycotoxin testing.  Phil sees helping other agencies as a way of reinforcing the integrity of the official system, and they are never too busy to help other agencies.  When reauthorization comes in a couple of years, as Phil says, “we are all in this together, it’s our livelihood.” 

For Phil, knowing that the program has a direct impact on Washington State farmers in the domestic program gives him a great sense of purpose.  The inspections the State performs in the domestic marketplace assists the livelihood of these producers and their families.  Being part of that community is extremely gratifying. Equally gratifying is knowing that their export inspections have a profound impact on international commerce and that their documents are admissible in court around the world to prove the quality of grain in any given shipment.  When the domestic and export operations are brought together, it is easy to see how an inspection certificate for a ship includes grain previously certified for a farmer working to provide for their family.  Phil says, “How can you not be proud to be a part of this and find it a privilege to be part of this system.”

Phil sees the State of Washington’s Grain Inspection Program continuing to grow alongside the industry they serve.  The State is adopting the latest technology and preparing qualified inspectors to meet the increased inspection demand.  Most importantly, the State is working to prepare the next generation of employees to move into leadership positions as attrition occurs.  Phil’s immediate goal is to ensure that the program leadership remains solid for many years and leadership transitions will be seamless to the State’s stakeholders.  

No doubt the State of Washington’s Grain Inspection Program will be an integral part of Washington’s grain markets for many years to come. 

Cairo Grain Inspection Agency

Cairo Grain Inspection Agency has a long history of providing great customer service to the barge loading facilities in Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky, and Northwest Tennessee.

Cairo Grain Inspection traces its roots back to the 1930s when it was a Board of Trade organization. The agency morphed to a USDA inspection point for a period before E. J. Abredecl purchased the business in 1940. The Woodson Tenant Company became owners in 1955 until the agency was purchased by Bob Simpson (a Woodson/Tenant employee) in 1965 and changed the name to Cairo Grain Inspection Agency.  Cairo received its first modern designation in 1978.

Bob Fronabarger left his position as chief inspector with Sioux City Grain Inspection Agency to work at Cairo in 1977 and purchased the agency in 1979.  The agency is a proud family business.  Bob’s wife Sandra kept the books and their son Keith worked probing barges throughout high school and in summers while in college.  Keith is now the owner and chief inspector. Although his father turned the reins over to Keith some time ago, he was a regular in the office until his passing.

Keith credits his dad for running such a successful business and teaching him the ropes.  Keith thought about becoming an engineer at one time, but he realized grain inspection was in his blood and thought being an engineer involved too much office time.  As Keith says, “where else can you take boat rides out to a barge tow in the Ohio River and watch eagles fly around while being at work”. 

For many years Bob wrote everything down on paper and at the end of the month he and Sandra would be up past midnight trying to make sure they had the month’s billing correct. Keith finally got his dad to accept a computer spreadsheet to calculate their billing.  Eventually, Keith wrote the agency’s first billing and certification program.

Cairo is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and services the Cumberland River & Tennessee River which includes Kentucky Lake that connects to the Tombigbee waterway.  Therefore, the agency’s business is primarily barge inspections.  Cairo regularly services five barge loaders on the Mississippi, three on the Ohio, three on the Tennessee, and one on the Cumberland River. Cairo also samples a number of barges in transit through their area.  The Cairo area is where many tow boats exchange barges making them available for inspection while they await the next tow.  One location loads out railcars sporadically, and at one facility Cairo performs inbound railcar and outbound barge weighing.

The agency regularly inspects Soft Red Winter Wheat, Soybeans, Sorghum, and Corn.  Keith points out that in the last ten years there has been an expansion of white corn grown in the area.  Approximately 20 percent of all corn inspections are for white corn.  Cairo also performs vomitoxin and aflatoxin testing.

Cairo has three full-time inspectors, including Keith and one being trained.  They also have approximately 20 part time employees located throughout the area to perform sampling.  Keith is quick to point out that what makes operating an official agency interesting is that every day is different.  You never know what services will be needed or who will need them. Everyone in the office pitches in with sampling and other duties when needed. 

Cairo is especially proud of the working relationship they have with their customers.  All of Cairo’s customers have Keith’s cell phone number and know that they can reach him anytime, day or night.  Keith is proud to provide a needed service to some good people and represent the official inspection system.  Keith’s father’s philosophy was that if you give the customer accurate grades they will respect you.  Its been that way at Cairo for almost 40 years and while technology may change, that philosophy is not about to change. 

Midsouth Grain Inspection Service

In 1882 after a devastating yellow fever epidemic, Memphis businesses formed the Merchants’ Exchange to aid in the sale of cotton.  This organization proved useful in the fair and equitable marketing of feed and grain as well as cotton.  

The Merchants Exchange established a grain and hay inspection department in 1885.  The department was incorporated in 1905 as “The Memphis Grain and Hay Association”. When Congress passed the U. S. Grain Standards Act in 1916, The Memphis Grain and Hay Association was designated the official U. S. inspection agency.  

In 1954 the name of the Merchants’ Exchange was changed to The Memphis Board of Trade.  Until 1977, the directors of The Memphis Board of Trade and the directors of the Memphis Grain and Hay Association held joint meetings.  Due to the USDA’s ruling regarding conflict of interest, The Memphis Grain and Hay Association became a separate organization with completely independent board.  Thereafter no person involved in the grain trade could serve as a director or as a member of an officially designated federal grain inspection service.  The name was later changed to “The Memphis Grain Inspection Service” (dropping “hay” as there was no longer hay being graded) in order to more accurately reflect the true nature of services provided. 

Although the Exchange no longer exists, the need for an impartial agency to provide grain inspection and weighing remains.  Over the years the agency’s name has changed to Memphis Grain Inspection Service, to Midsouth Grain Inspection Service as the agency has grown to become an integral part of grain marketing across the “Midsouth”.

Midsouth’s headquarters remains in its traditional home, Memphis, Tennessee, where they cover southwest Tennessee.  Over 133 years, their service area has expanded to include all of Arkansas and Mississippi and they have an agreement with the State of Alabama to provide service in northern Alabama.  Hence, they are the official inspection agency of the “Midsouth”.  To cover this area, Midsouth has additional offices in Leland, Mississippi, and Little Rock, Arkansas.

Midsouth provides the full range of official inspections, weighing, official commercial inspections, mycotoxin, protein, and oil testing.  The agency routinely inspects, corn, soybeans, sorghum, and soft red winter wheat.  Corn and soybeans account for most of grains inspected.  The resurgence of cotton acres has limited wheat and sorghum acres in the recent years.

Positioned on both sides of the Mississippi River, barge inspections are a significant part of Midsouth’s business.  Midsouth has one onsite laboratory at a barge loading facility and two other onsite laboratories at rail loading facilities.  Although they may not have as many onsite laboratories as other agencies, they have 60 diverter type samplers that are ready for use. They also provide transloading service in Memphis under the Agricultural Marketing Act.

Joseph Cupples says the agency employees approximately 20 full time employees. That number swells to 60 or 70 during harvest.  Joseph began working for Midsouth in 2004 and was placed in charge in 2008.  He is quick to point out that he does not have ten years of experience.  He has one year’s experience ten times.  That’s because the inspection business has been different each of the ten years he has been Agency Manager.  Weather and producers changing planting habits make every year different.

Cupples says that at Midsouth they are proud of two things -- their relationship with their customers and their relationship with their employees.  They work hard at keeping both groups satisfied.  It is these relationships that have allowed Midsouth to grow to the agency they are now.

The agency is constantly researching how it can add greater values to its customers.  They are exploring providing falling number testing.  They have also identified that they may be able to provide testing for some of the products inspected at the transloading facility.  Currently, samples they take are sent to private laboratories for fat, fiber, and protein analysis.  Midsouth is evaluating if they can provide these results in a more timely manner which will be of value to their customers.  Cupples says, it is all about being aware of what is happening in the marketplace and being willing to provide value to customers.  

Midsouth is looking forward to continuing its long history of providing unbiased results and value to customers long into the future.  

Montana Department of Agriculture

The Montana Department of Agriculture’s State Grain Laboratory is an official agency that is proud to be meeting the changing inspection needs of Montana’s producers, handlers, and processors.  The Montana State Grain Laboratory was established in 1920 and moved to their current location in 1951.  There have been several remodels, with the last one in 2011.

Recent revisions to the crop insurance program require producers to plant crops in rotation, and Montana producers responded by planting peas, lentils and garbanzo beans along with other specialty crops.  In 2015, Montana grew 11 million bushels of pulses on 600,000 acres.  In 2017, Montana farmers doubled their production on 1.5 million acres.  In fact, Montana produced more pulses than any other state for the first time ever in 2017.  The rapid increase in pulses created an unprecedented increase in pulse inspections for the State Grain Laboratory without decreasing grain inspections.

Traditionally the laboratory workload was 80 percent wheat and barley inspections and 20 percent other products.  Now pulse inspections account for 45 percent of their inspections and wheat 50 percent. It is important to recognize that the change is because the increase in pulses came with reduction of fallow ground and wheat acres. However, wheat production has not deceased, nor the need for wheat inspections. Additionally, over 2 million acres of farmland has recently come out of the Conservation Reserve Program in Montana, so grain production is also increasing.  

Greg Stordahl, State Grain Laboratory, Bureau Chief, points out that the State has successfully responded in multiple ways to address the increased need for pulse inspections. Additional staff has been added and trained, the fee schedule has been revised to ensure cost recovery is adequate for both pulses and grain since they require different time to inspect, and scheduling of inspection personnel has been revamped to ensure timely service is provided.

In addition to providing official wheat, barley, and pulse inspections the State is responsible for providing inspections of specialty products such as camelina, crambe, safflower, and other items under Montana State standards.  The laboratory also provides barley germination testing for the malting industry along with protein and falling number testing unofficially for products not under the United States Grain Standards Act.  Vomotoxin and aflatoxin tests are also routinely provided.

Greg says while there are challenges to providing the necessary services, they have found solutions. The greatest challenge is that Montana is a large State and travel in winter months can be extremely difficult.  With the main office located in Great Falls and another laboratory in Plentywood most customers can be reached in two hours. However, as Greg points out, it’s a six-and-a-half-hour drive between offices in good weather.  To ensure customers outside of the two-hour range receive service, the agency has licensed other State agriculture employees to provide sampling service for these customers.  Each office has a scheduler that plans the route for each day’s work to ensure service is provided in the most efficient method.  The State also has a courier service that picks up samples each night. Couriers leave at 5 PM and return at 3 AM with samples from elevators along their route.  Couriers bring in 60 percent of the daily samples and the rest come in by mail, private carries like FedEx, and their office drop boxes.  As Greg notes, there is always something to do first thing in the morning, and throughout the day.

The laboratory traditionally provided inspections mostly to producers who wanted to know the quality of their crop for marketing purposes.  While this practice continues, most requests for services now come from grain handlers and pulse processors.  The State has approximately 8,000 customers comprised of producers, elevators, processors and buyers.  There are 188 grain elevators in Montana and most submit samples.  An unofficial inspection agency typically provides service for domestic shipments and the State provides service for export shipments. 

With up to 20 different commodities to inspect on a routine basis, Montana’s inspectors have diverse skills.  So much so, that they seem to always be selected for openings at FGIS.  While the State is proud that its inspectors are held in such high regard, there seems to be a never ending need to recruit and train new inspectors.  Currently the State has five inspectors in Great Falls and two in Plentywood.  Five to seven seasonal employees are added from July to October to assist with the harvest workload, and a couple remain on part time throughout the year.

Two years ago, the State received help from the Kansas Grain Inspection Service to handle wheat inspections when several inspectors were lost to FGIS.  The State has one full time bean inspector, however last year’s unexpected volume of garbanzo beans overwhelmed the one inspector so Montana requested assistance from the State of Washington.  This year Montana is adequately staffed to provide all the service needed.  Greg points out that, Montana also assists other official agencies, and has done so for many years.  Known for its accuracy in testing for falling number, Montana has provided falling number testing for official agencies throughout the United States for many years and continues to do so.

The State Laboratory plays an important role in promoting Montana grain and pulses.  Greg says that they will have at least one trade team from somewhere around the globe in their office each month to learn how the laboratory ensures the quality of what they buy.  Groups from around the United States also come and are amazed at their inspectors’ ability to analyze such a diverse number of products.

Greg and his crew also work with the Wheat and Barley Committee, and the newly formed Pulse Committee, to head off problems and provide new tests that the marketplace needs. One example is their assistance in the acceptance of a new wheat variety with an unusual characteristic.  Several years ago, breeders developed a hard red winter wheat named Jet.  Jet provides increased yield, greater protein, and improved baking quantiles.  The unique property is that every time it is handled, and the kernels rub against each other and take on a polished glassy appearance to the point of appearing to be frost damaged.  The State Laboratory worked with FGIS to ensure inspectors throughout the official system could identify the variety and not improperly downgrade this superior product.  Working with the Wheat and Barley Committee, the laboratory is informing foreign buyers about this unique characteristic to promote Jet’s acceptance.

Greg is also working with an equipment manufacturer to provide a hand-held protein analyzer that producers can use to determine the protein level in pulses.  The Montana Pulse Committee and crop insurance companies are hopeful that this instrument will allow producers the ability to quickly determine one aspect of their crop’s value. 

Although last year a drought decreased overall production and therefore inspections, Montana has received abundant snowfall this winter, so hopes are high for a large 2018 harvest. The pulse industry is continuing to build processing plants and one that is scheduled to open this year will require onsite grading, a first for the State.  Greg’s goal is to expand the agency’s onsite inspections.  

With all the growth in production, the future for the Montana State Grain Laboratory looks bright, and Greg and his crew look forward to continuing to meet the changing needs of the Montana grain and pulse producers, handlers, and processors.  For more information about the Montana State Grain Laboratory click here to view their website.

Maryland Department of Agriculture

The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) is celebrating its 10th year as a designated official agency.  Headquartered in Annapolis and with five service points mostly on the Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern shore, MDA is proud to assist Maryland’s grain producers and handlers market their grain.

After the export elevators at the Port of Baltimore closed and GIPSA closed its field offices, producers and handlers were forced to obtain services from GIPSA’s Toledo field office which was expensive and thus hampered their ability to fully market their grain.  To address this concern the State requested to become designated to provide official inspection and weighing to Marylanders.

While the State had some of the necessary equipment and had provided some unofficial analysis on a limited basis, they had no one ready to become licensed and operate the program.  Through a confluence of circumstances, the State realized that John “Mack” Manis, a retired GIPSA employee with a vast knowledge of official grain inspection and weighing was working for the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Division.  Mack agreed to transfer to the Department of Agriculture and launch the program.

Mack credits GIPSA’s Toledo Field office for all their assistance to get the State in the position to provide service.  Although the local grain handlers had requested the State provide the service, the State only received one request for a container booking in the first year.  The grain inspection program is within the State’s Food Quality Assurance Program which provides inspections on a vast array of products produced in Maryland, so Mack found himself assisting in these programs while awaiting additional requests for service.

Each subsequent year the State would receive a few more container booking requests and some crop insurance samples to inspect.  For the first seven years Mack was the sole licensee for the State.  About three years ago a major grain user and handler began to regularly export containers from the port of Baltimore and locations on the eastern shore.  Two other major grain companies soon followed.  Now the State has six sampler/weighers and an additional inspector to handle the workload, which usually occurs between October and March.  When not sampling grain, these employees inspect other products, such as, shell eggs under an agreement with the Agricultural Marketing Service.

Mack is quick to point out that each of the locations that they serve were new to container inspection and most had never received official service on site.  This required extensive problem solving on everyone’s part to ensure that all the GIPSA requirements were met.  Some locations initially wanted each container inspected, however once they became confident in the grades from the State they began using composite samples which made the workload more manageable.

Soybeans are the primary grain inspected, although some corn is inspected.  The State does receive occasional requests to inspect Soft Red Winter wheat and sorghum.  These samples are sent to the Kansas Grain Inspection Service utilizing an agreement between the agencies.   Maryland appreciates the assistance provided and is proud to be part of the official inspection system that assists each other to provide official inspection and weighing to producers and handlers nationwide.   

The State has graded around three to four thousand samples per year in recent years.  This year the State is expecting to inspect around half of that amount.  A reduction in exports coupled with the opening of a large soybean facility in nearby Pennsylvania is thought to be cause for the reduction.

For MDA it is all about helping Maryland grain producers and handlers market their grain.  They receive calls weekly from Marylanders interested in how they can better market their grain.  Although many of these calls do not lead to inspections the State is always excited to explain all the requirements and try and find a way to help their constituents.  MDA is thankful for the help they have received in establishing and maintain their inspection program, and proud that they can assist those producing and handling grain within the State of Maryland.