Manhattan, KS - Kansas State University’s IGP Institute held the annual IGP-KSU Grain Purchasing course from April 1–12, 2019.
Sixteen participants joined the IGP Institute for the course to gain a better understanding on grain purchasing and management practices.
This training also included a field trip to an export facility located in Portland, Oregon.
“The IGP–KSU Grain Purchasing course was a big success,” says Guy H. Allen, senior agricultural economist for the IGP Institute.
“The participants were able to gain great knowledge on the importance of grain procurement contracts and the supply chain on an international level and focus on the importance of risk management strategy.”
The first week of the course focused on fundamentals of grain purchasing, including topics on grain transportation; USDA grading standards and how they are implemented; how to read a USDA report; examination of world grain supply and demand; grain trading rules; and international trade contracts, among other things.
The second week of the course dove into advanced principles of grain trading including topics surrounding commodity exchanges, futures trading, price risk management and hedging.
Participants also engaged in discussion over other topics on futures, options, OTC contracts and applied management strategies.
“This course gave me the opportunity to become more familiar with the grain industry,” says Rolando Solis, charter manager for MF Grains in Panama City, Panama.
“The specifics in the grain industry are still new to me.
"This course definitely helped me learn a lot about key concepts in grain purchasing and risk management.”
Solis adds, “After taking this this course I understand more of the importance of properly managed grains how to manage risks in such a volatile environment and how communication and news can play a big role in what we do.
”During the course, participants took a field trip to the United Grain Corporation export facility in Portland, Oregon.
“We had a great experience at the United Grain Corporation elevator,” Allen says.
“Being able to visit the location helped our participants see the commodities unload from rail cars and lad out into ocean vessels in a hands-on fashion."
In addition to grain marketing and risk management, the IGP Institute offers courses in the areas of flour milling and grain processing, and feed manufacturing and grain quality management.
For more information, please contact Lisa Moser at 785-532-2459 or lmoser@ksu.edu