NCGA Action Teams Hold Spring Meetings in New Orleans (03-29-05)
Members of the
National Corn Growers Association’s (NCGA) Ethanol Committee
and Research and Business Development Action Team got an up-close
look at a major grain export facility last week in New Orleans. One
of the group’s objectives was to learn more about challenges
and opportunities surrounding the export of ethanol coproducts.
In conjunction
with their spring business meetings, the groups toured the Zen-Noh
Grain Corporation facility 50 miles upriver from the mouth of the
Mississippi River. The facility is capable of processing 120,000 bushels
of grain per hour and exported about 200 million bushels of corn last
year. Most of the grain exported from the terminal is bound for Japan.
For NCGA members,
the tour provided a behind-the-scenes look at how grain from the Midwest
is prepared for export.
“It was
a very good experience and we learned some interesting things about
the way the process works,” said Daryl Haack, chair of the Ethanol
Committee. “They have shipped some distillers grains from there
and it was interesting to hear their thoughts on moving distillers
grains.”
The groups also
met with officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) to
discuss the agency’s role in inspecting grain and establishing
standards for U.S. agricultural exports. Haack said growers also discussed
what role GIPSA may play in the future of distillers grains exports.
“We may
get to a point with distillers grains where we need to work more closely
with GIPSA and we wanted to investigate the possibilities of working
together in the future,” Haack said.
Both teams also
conducted normal business and discussed ongoing initiatives to advance
NCGA’s ethanol and research priorities.
Last reviewed
March 29, 2005