SSGA launches specialty grains action team

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The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) team often refers to the organization’s main priorities as the “three legs on a stool.” Since SSGA’s inception in 2019, transportation and soya are the two stool legs that have received more attention, but with the launch of the Specialty Grains (SG) action team, that will no longer be the case. SG action team members recently met to set its core priorities and activities for the upcoming year.

This action team will focus on all specialty crops, their products and derivatives. This, of course, is not a short list. With many organizations focusing on grains, including the U.S. Grains Council, U.S. Dry Bean Council, Ameriflax, and more, SSGA will have plenty of collaborators in this realm.

“The purpose of the action team is to focus on containerized shipments of identity-preserved (IP) grains,” says SG action team chair Sheila Sauve. “With many potential partners, we will have our work cut out for us to develop relationships and work with these groups to bolster the entire industry.”

A few of the markets identified as priority for this action team include Southeast Asia, North Asia and Europe. Hybrid rye and grains for brewing and distillation are some priority crops.

SSGA staff member David Miller has been tasked with developing programming and events for this action team. To assist in increasing exports of IP specialty grains, possible future activities include web calls with prospective customers in key markets, a healthy food ingredients conference, trade missions and other overseas activities. Contact Miller by email to participate in the action team.

“There is an abundance of U.S.-grown specialty grains that have great potential in overseas markets,” Sauve says. “This action team looks forward to advancing and communicating the great value of IP field crops. Traceability is so important in specialty grains and customers want assurances of quality.”

Minnesota Crop Improvement Association draws the way forward with identity-preserved practices

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By Eric Wenberg, executive director

On Jan. 8 in Fergus Falls, Minn., I had the pleasure of attending the 117th meeting of the Minnesota Crop Improvement Association (MCIA). MCIA is how identity-preserved (IP) field crops start, with solid approaches to seed use, farming practices and on-farm certification processes, importantly driven by conversations between what’s achievable on the farm for merchandisers marketing soya and specialty grains.

MCIA Chief Executive Officer Fawad Shah is a strong, contributing member association leader at Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA), pointing the way ahead. It’s great to have them as a partner. The group was concerned about quality from the 2019 crops, with some farms having left fields unharvested. The concern for the future of farming was real, but the rural communities had survived another year. There was optimism in the room for the future if 2020 weather will cooperate. “First, start with the seed,” was the common theme from the meetings and awards.

Many attendees produce seed for their neighbor and propagate the non-GMO seeds for food variety field crops, then grow successor generation crops with their neighbor customers. Some noted lots of calls about trying to get growing plans in place, and noted that the lower Chicago Board of Trade prices meant a concurrent lower premium because companies are setting that, not with an absolute value, but dependent on the overall value of the crop. MCIA committees set new, updated standards and forecast future tweaks to the seed standards in line with the Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies (AOSCA).

Leaders from the University of Minnesota Forever Green Initiative discussed supply chain development for Kernza®. The group and its supply chain developer, Colin Cureton, work in a building with the impressive name and auspicious crop development goals of Norman Borlaug. Kernza is a wheat-like grain and the first commercially viable perennial grain and can be used for cooking, baking, brewing, distilling and co-products. It has a deep, dense root system and produces both grain and forage over three to four years. There are just 2,000 acres of the crop worldwide, but much of that is grown in Minnesota. Kernza, once produced, is in high demand with businesses competing to purchase it. While consumers like the quality of new grains, the difficulty is to scale up production. In a decade you could be selling this one to high-end users if the numbers work. The agronomics certainly do. SSGA is working on specialty grains and markets, helping members find crops to sell and providing research in the market.

I also had the opportunity to network and catch up with some SSGA members at the meeting including Friedrich seeds, Albert Lea Seed, Northern Crops Institute, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Soyko International and Richland IFC. Thanks, MCIA, for a great meeting and supporting SSGA. Keep up the good work.

 

Thailand government reconsiders ban of chemical use

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The Thailand National Hazardous Substance Committee (NHSC) has overturned their earlier decision to ban three agricultural chemicals. The Oct. 22 decision to classify glyphosate, paraquat and chlorpyrifos as Category 4 substances was to start Dec. 1. This classification would have banned the chemicals from production, possession, importation and exportation and would require a zero maximum residue level (MRL) applied to possible exposure.

The Nov. 27 decision keeps glyphosate as a Category 3 substance (restricted use and sales), while a classification of paraquat and chlorpyrifos as Category 4 substances will become effective June 1, 2020.

Recently, Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) member Rob Prather of Global Processing, traveled to Southeast Asia to meet with buyers and learn more about the Thai ban. Read that story here.

SSGA looks forward to discussing this issue at the annual meeting Tuesday.

SSGA talks transportation, research on Michigan tour

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With more than 300 commodities grown, Michigan boasts diverse agriculture, so it’s understandable why staff from the Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) wanted to introduce the organization to the agricultural industry in the state.

SSGA Executive Director Eric Wenberg met with the agribusiness industry in Michigan Oct. 23-25 to learn more about Michigan’s identity-preserved (IP) industry and to see how SSGA can work for its member across the nation.

SSGA kicked off its trip at Zeeland Farm Services, Inc. (ZFS), in Zeeland, Mich., where ZFS officials shared transportation hurdles they’re facing. Among their concerns was the perception that heavy trucks damage the roads more than lighter trucks.

In Michigan, the allowable truck weight limit is 164,000 pounds on an 11-axel truck, which averages 14,900 pounds per axle. The federal limit of an 80,000-pound truck with 5 axels equals 16,000 pounds per axle. Despite the heavier federal allowance, neighboring states are adapting to Michigan’s rule to alleviate stress on roadways and increase efficiency by using fewer trucks, drivers and fuel. ZFS also shared other transportation concerns such as not being able to transport a fully loaded, 40-foot container to Chicago because of weight limits when driving between states.

“Visiting member companies like ZFS helps bring more awareness to issues they’re facing when growing, brokering and transporting identity-preserved crops across America,” says SSGA Executive Director Eric Wenberg. “By listening to our members, SSGA can bring these issues to the forefront and help create a better environment for the entire IP industry.”

Another stop for SSGA staff was to the Michigan State University agronomy farm to learn about soybean breeder Dr. Dechun Wang’s research. Wang considers the 11,000 non-GMO soybean breeding lines he planted in 2019 like his children and relayed the importance of support for public research breeding programs.

“Both public and private breeding programs are vital to the success of crops like soybeans,” Wang says.  “Public programs like the one at MSU ensures that growers have unbiased research solutions to an ever-changing agricultural climate.”

SSGA also met with new Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee director Janna Frisk, and with Michigan Agricultural Commissioner Gary McDowell, to discuss the issues Michigan faces with identity preserved crops, practices, and shipping.

Soybeans are the Michigan’s top food export and 12 percent of all soybeans grown are IP. Michigan also leads the nation in production of the dry edible bean classes of black, cranberry, navy and small, red beans.

Trade deal to send more U.S. grain to Japan

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By Arvin Donley for World Grain

A new trade agreement between the United States and Japan announced on Aug. 25 in France calls for the Japanese to buy U.S. surplus corn.

U.S. President Donald Trump said the deal would likely be signed at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September.

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe added that while some work remains to be done on the final language of the deal, “we have successfully reached consensus with regard to the core elements related to agricultural and industrial trade.”

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the deal focuses on agriculture, industrial tariffs and digital trade. Japan will buy up $7 billion of U.S. agricultural products, mostly corn, under the agreement, Reuters reported.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe noted that most of the “potential” corn purchases would come through the private sector.

The report is good news for American farmers, who have seen their agricultural exports take a hit as the United States and China engage in a trade war. The deal was well received by U.S. agricultural groups, including the U.S. Wheat Associates (USW).

“We are very happy that this agreement will end the growing competitive cost advantage that Canadian and Australian wheat imports got under the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) agreement,” said Doug Goyings, chairman of USW and a farmer from Paulding, Ohio. “We want to say thank you to the negotiators at the U.S. Trade Representative office and at the USDA trade and foreign affairs office for working so hard to prevent more export losses for farmers like me.”

Gregg Doud, chief agricultural negotiator, and Ted McKinney, USDA Undersecretary, deserve special recognition for their efforts, said Vince Peterson, president of USW.

“They immediately understood what was at stake for wheat farmers without a trade deal and made this outcome a priority,” Peterson said. “We also thank government officials and our flour miller customers in Japan for their forward-thinking approach to the situation.”

U.S. wheat farmers in partnership with the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service have helped build a strong demand among Japan’s flour millers for several classes of U.S. wheat grown in the Pacific Northwest to the Northern and Central Plains.

However, when the CPTPP was implemented Dec. 30, 2018, without the United States, the effective tariffs on imported Canadian and Australian wheat started to decline. Locked out of the agreement, U.S. wheat imports would have become less and less cost competitive to the point that Japan’s flour millers would have no other choice than to buy the lower cost wheat from the CPTPP member countries.

The new agreement helps protect U.S. exports that represents about 50% of the sophisticated and demanding Japanese wheat market, with average annual sales of about 3 million tonnes that are currently worth about $700 million per year.

Mark Lambert, spokesman for the U.S. Corn Growers Association, said the organization was withholding comment on the deal until they could obtain more details.