Grain Inspection Topics ... 60 Years Ago

Truck inspections, moisture meters, and lighting were among the topics at the biennial meeting of the National Association of Chief Grain Inspectors and representatives from USDA’s Grain Division on May 11 and 12, 1960 in Toledo, Ohio.

• Truck inspections have increased greatly the past two years. Most places sample the trucks at the elevators for official inspection, but at least one place has a truck inspection terminal where truck grain is sampled and graded and can go to several elevators. In Chattanooga, outbound cars and trucks are sampled with a mechanical woodside sampler.

• Improvements are being made in several moisture testers, which may someday replace the Tag Heppenstal. The most promising is the “motomco.”

• The discussion of lighting gave a comparison of the changing natural North Light daily and hourly to artificial north light. These light changes and the demand for night inspections make artificial lighting a necessity. The Toledo North Light is the best at present and is in the process of being standardized for grain inspection.

• During the fiscal year that ended June 1959, there were 3.5 million inspections by 650 inspectors at 156 inspection points in the United States which is about 5,500 inspections per inspector.

• Differences in the fees charged among agencies are largely due to local costs of operation, local living costs, type of sampling personnel, travel distance to get samples and number of sampling stops.

  • Car inspection fees vary from $1.50 to $3.25

  • Truck inspection fees vary from $1.00 to $2.50

  • Submitted sample fees vary from 50 cents to $2.50.

Elected as officers for 1960-62 were: William Hutchings, Denver, Colorado as president, Ray Roland of Lawrenceburg, Indiana as vice-president, and Virgil McNamee, Toledo, Ohio, as secretary-treasurer. The meeting was attended by 166 people: 71 inspectors, 52 Federal men, 5 visitors, and 38 women.