The Global Miller: August 2017

August 31, 2017

01/09/2017: Alltech and DLG announce joint venture to provide advanced animal nutrition offerings in Russia

Global leaders in animal health and nutrition Alltech and DLG Group (DLG) are joining forces to deliver greater profitability and efficiency to farmers and producers in Russia

Alltech and DLG are finalising a joint venture to strengthen their delivery of the latest in innovative animal nutrition.

Image credit: Dmitry Dzhus
(CC by 2.0)

“We are excited about this next step with DLG, which is a very significant player in the agricultural industry,” said Dr Pearse Lyons, founder and president of Alltech.

“This joint venture will combine DLG’s excellence in premix manufacturing with Alltech’s field-proven nutritional solutions.

“Alltech is pursuing several collaborations in new markets focused on growth,” he continued.

“We are very committed to strategic investments, organic growth, collaborative agreements and key acquisitions that secure a stronger business platform to provide forward-thinking animal nutritional solutions and on-farm support to customers across the globe.”

The joint venture follows a period of close collaboration and negotiations between Alltech and DLG, both of which have business operations across Europe.

The companies will hold a 50 percent share in the joint venture located in Orenburg, south of the Ural Mountains, in Russia.

“We believe this joint venture with Alltech will ensure that we enhance our presence and increase our strength in the Russian market,” said Kristian Hundeboll, CEO of DLG.

“The synergies created by this cooperation with Alltech will present our customers in Russia with innovative solutions and cutting-edge technologies to maximise their profitability, increase their competitive advantage and improve their feed efficiency.”

Visit the Alltech website, HERE.

Visit the DLG website, HERE.

The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine Milling and Grain
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.

For additional daily news from milling around the world: global-milling.com

01/09/2017: The way forward reducing antibiotics in poultry

by Dr Piet Simons, Former President of WPSA and Expert on Microbial Resistance

“Microbial resistance is still an increasing problem. It is related to the use of several antibiotics in humans as well in animals but also importation from abroad by traveling of people plays a role

Image credit: ILDEX Indonesia

“In 2010 politicians in The Netherlands decided that antibiotic use in animals should go down. A poultry project, advised by a team of experts on fields of reproduction, feed and drinking water, hygiene and health, climate and epidemiology was set up. Data in these fields as well as production data were collected.

“Bottlenecks in transparency, chicken quality, management and diseases were found. Results led to 20 percent less antibiotic use in 2012, 50 percent in 2013 and 70 percent in 2015. The effect of reductions in antibiotic use led to less microbial resistance in several antibiotic classes.

Dr Piet Simons
Image credit: ILDEX Indonesia

“New developments by the poultry industry as for instance patio, hatch care, precision livestock farming and electronic noses might lead to a further decrease of antibiotics.”

This important insight was shared by Dr Piet Simons, Former president of the World Poultry Science Association, WPSA and ambassador of the Dutch Poultry Centre.

Cooperation throughout the chain is key. Moreover, staying ahead is hence very important. The ABC Challenge Asia will assist you to find ways to enhance your businesses and livelihood.

This dedicated conference will be focusing on Antimicrobial resistance and Biosecurity and its impact to poultry operation via consumer pressure. Nine experts will travel to Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, to speak and interact with Southeast Asian poultry professionals.

This conference will be held on October 17, 2017 at JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia.

A special rate has already been made available.

For only $195, you can be part of the 150 expert network of professors, veterinarians, nutritionists and other fellow professionals.

Meet the speaker, HERE.

Register until the end of August 2017, HERE.

The conference will be one of the conference highlight of ILDEX Indonesia 2017 which will be held on October 18-20, 2017 at JI Expo, Jakarta, Indonesia.

For more information and to pre-register online click, HERE.

01/09/2017: Formic acid on EU register of feed additives as hygiene condition enhancer

A recent EU regulatory decision dated June, 2017, concerning Reg. 2017/940, will lead to huge modifications in feed industry daily practices

Formic acid is now classified in functional group 1n: “hygiene condition enhancers” of the EU register of feed additives for the coming decade.

Perstop’s formic acid plant in Sweden. Perstorp is one of
only 3 European formic acid producers.
Image credit: Perstorp

This means that it is now allowed to add formic acid to any raw material or feed as a bacterial decontaminating agent (including but not limited to Salmonella), to improve feed hygiene.

For the time being formic acid is the only product approved for this application. The new functional group 1n “hygiene condition enhancers” clearly recognises formic acid’s antibacterial efficiency in dry substrates such as compound feed or any of the dry raw materials entering into feed formulation.

Maximum allowed dosage is 10 kg / ton of substrate. The formic acid consortium applied for this new regulatory position. Historically, formic acid was already classified in functional groups 1a “preservatives” and 1k “silage additives”.

This hasn’t changed, therefore today formic acid is recognised in all three of these functional groups: 1a (preservatives), 1k (silage additives) and 1n (hygiene condition enhancers).

As a part of the consortium that applied for this new classification, Swedish formic acid producer Perstorp is pleased with the outcome. “Feed hygiene and feed decontamination are core activities for Perstorp”, according to Christophe Michaut, Feed Hygiene Business Development Manager at Perstorp.

“We provide several recipes dedicated to feed hygiene and bacterial load control. However, these recipes are only part of the answer. A control plan is needed is order to measure bacterial load before-after feed decontaminating actions. The target is to decrease enterobacteriaceae loads in the feed or feed ingredients with 2 to 4 log cycles.”

Visit the Perstorp website, HERE.

01/09/2017: Asia’s food future Healthy eating in Asia: How can the global grain industry be a part of it

by Raghavan ‘Ragha’ Sampathkumar

I am continuing from my last column about the event focusing on indigenous seed varieties of field crops and trees

Raghavan
Sampathkumar

was pleasantly surprised to see the level of interest and attention it gained with the urban audience. For an agribusiness professional like me, nothing would be so exciting than this. In the current scenario of information overload, consumers hardly care to understand the logic and science behind tradition, customs, culture or even their own behaviour.

However, when an event like this can draw the attention of urban educated masses, it is definitely a great platform to disseminate correct information that they otherwise will never be interested in seeking.

It was a great opportunity for general public including young parents who brought their children to make them aware of different food crops such as millets, minor cereals, and pulses like horse gram, which used to be essential components of the diets of their generations.

The kids were obviously excited and roamed around the stalls and got first-hand experience in learning about food production. It also struck me that these kinds of indigenous cultivars from every country must be recorded and information must be made available to the researchers and academia so that breeders, for example, can pursue crop improvement programs.

The private sector also has a role to play here as it can further develop the varieties through using advanced techniques and commercialise. In this way, both the consumers and the farmers get benefitted.

In the recently concluded World Agricultural Forum in Singapore, similar points were raised to promote awareness among consumers since public perception now-a-days, perhaps plays the most important role in policy making.

It is important for the agri-food industry to promote awareness among consumers about the facts and science behind any technology and how it helps them in their everyday lives in terms of reduced price and/or enhanced nutrition.

This is a shared responsibility in the agri-food value chain and cannot be left only to the production sector as the grain trade industry stands to gain when correct policies are made based on solid scientific data.

Read the full article, HERE.

Andritz company profile

ANDRITZ is a globally leading supplier of plants, equipment, and services for hydropower stations, the pulp and paper industry, the metalworking and steel industries, and for solid/liquid separation in the municipal and industrial sectors.

The publicly listed technology Group is headquartered in Graz, Austria, and has a staff of around 25,700 employees. ANDRITZ operates over 250 sites worldwide.

Visit the website HERE.

The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine GFMT
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.

For additional daily news from milling around the world: global-milling.com

31/08/2017: PIX AMC 2018, speakers announced

Supply Chain Opportunities – Farmers to Consumers' is the theme of this year’s conference

The PIX/AMC 2018 program will again feature three days filled with the latest in innovation and information, with knowledgeable industry personnel from both Australia and overseas attending.

The program is streamed into chicken meat, egg production, free range and organic farming, flour milling and feed milling for all livestock species, including beef, dairy, pigs and others. There will be topics of interest for each and every delegate.

Workshops on numerous special interest areas encompassing all aspects of the poultry industry will also be on offer. For the more technically-minded, the Australasian Veterinary Poultry Association (AVPA) will again be holding a scientific meeting directly after the conference.

A highlight of the conference will be the trade display area which is the industry’s largest and most extensive. Made up over 200 booths, exhibitors will be on hand to demonstrate their latest products and equipment.

The Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre is a world-class venue and coupled with the exciting social program planned with the conference allows for relaxed discussion opportunities and a chance to catch up with friends and colleagues.

The organisers have again chosen the Gold Coast in June for the favourable weather and vast accommodation and co-curricular entertainment options available.

PIX/AMC 2018 will be the biggest and most important poultry and milling conference in the region for the 2018 calendar year.

Meet the speakers

Mick Keogh AM
Image credit: PIX/AMC

Mick Keogh AM
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s first ever agricultural commissioner, Mr Mick Keogh AM will be a keynote speaker at PIX/AMC 2018. In the opening session Mr Keogh will address delegates on “Supply chain competition – fairness from farmer to consumer”

De Wet Boshoff
Image credit: PIX/AMC

De Wet Boshoff
Mr De Wet Boshoff will be speaking on the AMC feed program. Mr Boshoff will deliver a presentation on feed milling from an African perspective, particularly supply chain issues in the African feed industry that may have commonality with Australia

Greg Harvey
Image credit: PIX/AMC

Greg Harvey
The AMC flour program goes to new heights in 2018 with Mr Greg Harvey, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive of the Interflour Group as one of the keynote speaker. Interflour is head-quartered in Singapore with operations in Vietnam, Malaysia, Turkey, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

Visit the PIX AMC website, HERE.

August 30, 2017

31/08/2017: The flourmills of Hull continued

by Mildred Cookson, The Mills Archive, UK

As I mentioned in last month's article, my interest in the history of Hull as a flour-milling centre was kindled by our rescue of thousands of drawings of roller flourmills from the eighteenth century cellars of Gelder and Kitchen

Mildred Cookson
Image credit: Mills Archive UK

This firm of architects worked closely with Joseph Rank from the 1890s before branching out to cover other milling firms and most of the country. The early part of the story is well illustrated by two articles in “Milling” in June 1904.

About a mile upriver from Rank's Clarence Mills, which featured in the previous article, were the Swan Mills belonging to Messrs Rishworth, Ingleby and Lofthouse, owners of three established and important milling firms.

Erected in 1899 using the Simon system, by 1904 the Swan Mills' capacity had increased from 30 sacks per hour by adding a further 20 sack per hour plant. The Swan Mills were in an excellent location for transport either by water or rail, being on the east bank of the River Hull and within easy reach of Wilmington Station for goods trains.

The previous mills of Messrs Lofthouse and Hammond in Boroughbridge changed to other purposes, whereas the Albert Mills of the Rishworth Brothers in Leeds, continued flour production for a short time before the premises were bought by the City Corporation to make room for street improvements!

Swan Flour Mills, HullImage credit: Mills Archive UK

The third partners, JA Ingleby & Son of Tadcaster were part of the Ingleby family, who had long been known in West Riding flour milling. Mr Joseph Auton Ingleby had been a miller for some years at Harewood Bridge before purchasing the Tadcaster Mills and developing the mills into a fine property.

His son, Mr JH Ingleby proved a worthy successor, joining the firm to build the new mills in Hull. Mr J Ingleby was to become a partner with Henry Simon, and in 1907 gave up the Chairmanship of Henry Simon Ltd, but retained his position as chairman of Simon-Carves Ltd.

The receiving house at Swan Mills was on the quay between the silo granary and the provender mill, and was provided with a ship elevator capable of lifting 50 tonnes per hour. The large building in the centre of the site with the sprinkler tower, near the middle, was divided into three sections. The longest being the mill proper, designed to contain two 30-sack plants.

The opposite end held the wheat cleaning department and the middle section under the tower contained the rope alley for connecting the engine with the main line shafts. The roller floor was arranged with three lines of Simon double rollers, ten on the four breaks, being 60 inches, and sixteen smooth mills on the reductions, with 40 inch rolls, all of Simon’s heavy pattern.

“Milling,” reported at the time that one roller mill that had been recently introduced was of an entirely new construction. It was claimed it would create a sensation when put on the market, but unfortunately, it was still a secret at the time of the report.

The guards round the pulleys and belt drive of the rollers were said to be the neatest seen and the appearance of the whole roller floor was noted as excellent. On the second floor were 14 double Simon dustless “Reform” purifiers arranged in a single line.

These machines all had auto-oiling baths for the eccentrics to run in, making them work smoothly. The arrangement of double sieves, set at opposite positions to each other in relation to the eccentric shaft, made the sieves reciprocate without jarring and enabled the operator to adjust the machine with much greater accuracy than in the case of a single sieve purifier.

The scalping was done on the third floor with Simons rotary sieves working on the first and second break chops and Simon’s double horizontal centrifugals on the third and fourth. The flour dressing was all done on 40 three-sheet Simon centrifugals on the top floor, placed two high, giving a very neat arrangement.

The system of milling might have been regarded as a long one, but it was longest in break roll surface and purification. The view of the four grades of flour, and the divisions being made, proved not only was the machinery perfect, but also well handled.

The wheat-cleaning house, or ‘grain laundry’ as it was called was very interesting. There were two large Simon washers and three Simon whizzers, two Simon rotary separators, a divider for feeding cylinders with equal streams of wheat, Simon’s dustless milling separator, 24 cylinders, four columns of conditioning apparatus, with hot and cold air fans and air heater.

Read the full article, HERE.

Visit the Mills Archive UK website, HERE.

Alapala company profile

Establishing plants at any desired capacity, Alapala Machine is a company that exports 95 percent of its current production today and has hundreds of references in over 75 countries in 4 continents including developed industrial countries such as Belgium, France, Italy, Canada and USA. Alapala continually develops and expands thanks to its superior technology infrastructure, perfectionist staff and management, and its quality and customer-oriented approach.

It renders the best before-sales and after-sales services with its staff specialized in their industry, overseas representatives, strong service networks and spare-part stocks.

Alapala can manufacture quality and high performance machinery where the best efficiency ad products can be obtained in the production facilities that have the most developed and state-of-the art technology.
Alapala’s lines of business:

•    Wheat flour mills,
•    Semolina mills,
•    Corn flour mills,
•    Rice processing plants,
•    Feed mills,
•    Cereal storage systems,
•    Weighing, conveying, packing equipment
•    Harbour facilities under the licence of Tramco Inc-USA

Visit the company website HERE.

August 29, 2017

30/08/2017: Training for Sukarne professionals held to learn international grain purchasing

The US Grains Council sponsors Sukarne employees to train at the IGP Institute in global grain marketing and buying

Education and training in grain purchasing is important for importing grains to raise quality livestock and to market those animals domestically and internationally. Individuals from Sukarne, the largest beef cattle producer in Mexico, gained that valuable education and experience August 21–22, 2017 at the IGP Institute Conference Centre in a workshop sponsored by the US Grains Council (USGC).

Allen Trower from the Kansas Grain Inspection Service in Topeka, Kansas helps demonstrate grain grading and inspection in a practicum exercise during the USGC Sukarne workshop.
Image credit: IGP KSU

The workshop hosted six participants from Sukarne and one participant from USGC in Mexico. Jay O’Neil, senior agricultural economist at the IGP Institute, explains how the participants from Sukarne came to the workshop with numerous questions and wanted to learn the value of using Distilled Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS) and to understand how to control the quality of their corn imports.

“We were able to address and discuss a number of issues that were important to them in their grain import programs.”

A variety of grain marketing and handling topics were discussed in the workshop including US Department of Agriculture (USDA) standards; grain grading practicum and inspection, grain storage and maintaining quality, US export grain inspection system, contracting for desired grain quality, and the US grain production and marketing systems.

These lectures and presentations were taught by KSU faculty and staff in the two-day training.

“What I enjoyed the most was all of the knowledge that we all acquired as a group, and me personally,” says Marco Antonio Peiro Villaverde, manager in reception of domestic and imported grains at Sukarne in Culiacán, Mexico.

“It has been a very beneficial course for those of us who come from Sukarne, and this same information that we have learned in the last few days we will convey to our co-workers who have the same responsibilities as we do in our company.”

Villaverde explains that he will take home a better knowledge of the corn quality imported from different providers in the US and the analysis and conservation behind the whole process of buying grains.

Along with the customised trainings, the IGP Institute offers courses in the areas of flour milling and grain processing, feed manufacturing and grain quality management, and grain marketing and risk management.

To learn more about these other training opportunities, visit the IGP Institute website, HERE.

30/08/2017: From Turkey, with opportunities

by Darren Parris, Milling and Grain

If you were not there, you missed a superb opportunity to do business with more than 7,000 visitors from around the globe

There was much apprehension about the seventh IDMA International Exhibition, showcasing the -Flour, Semolina, Rice, Corn, Bulghur, Feed Milling Machinery and Pulse, Pasta, Biscuit Technologies industries.

Traditionally IDMA has been seen as the biggest meeting platform for the grain and pulses processing industry on an international scale, the question on the May 4, 2017 was: Will it live up to its potential and maintain its dominance as a world leading expo for the milling industry? As with many exhibitions, IDMA has its doubters and this year as well as doubters IDMA had InterPack in Germany at the same time, internal political issues and Terrorism.

And we all know its times like this that the true professionalism and backbone of a show either rise to the surface or fizzle out and fail. Having spent every day at the show I can report first hand that the turnout was tremendous and the business conducted was in the multi-millions of dollars zone, so if for some reason you were not able to attend, it would be fair to say you probably missed a trick or two.

In all my years of attending Milling exhibitions in an industry worth more than 10 billion dollars, it is no exaggeration to put IDMA expo as one of the leading Milling events on the planet. And when you consider that it is only held every two years with the next taking place in 2019 it works well with supplier’s time and budget schedules.

This is my forth IDMA and one thing that separates IDMA from many other expos is the breadth of industry support that it receives, with close ties and links to over 30 industry organisation from around the globe bringing a mix of visitors from many regions especially the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

All key regions seeking development and technology in both the Food and feed milling sectors. The success of any show or exhibition should never be solely calculated by those who visit your stand or booth, we all know you have to be assertive and get out there and grab the business whilst you can.

If the level of business achieved at a show is disappointing you will always have to ask yourself, “did I do enough to go out there and grab the business”, for example you must have translators if Turkish is not your first language and you must be proactive! “Emek olmadan yemek olmaz” as they say in Turkish, “no food without labour” and at IDMA you are up against almost 250 exhibitors of which almost 90 are international, from outside Turkey. So, with 33,000sqm to walk and three halls to navigate including one hall dedicated to feed you have to be ahead of the pack.

Just the start: Opening ceremony
The four days took off with a steady flow of visitors on Day one. The opening ceremony was conducted as tradition dictates and the ribbon cut announcing the beginning of what would be four busy business days. As the visitors signed in and the various conferences got under way the opening talks took place each given by a leading dignitary from one of the many supporting global organisations.

It is this level of both Government and industry support that attracts so many international visitors to IDMA. Days two and three were extremely busy at different times in each of the three halls. With as many as 7,000 professional visitors attending at any given time.

Our own survey of many of our partners revealed that pretty much everyone had achieved some significant business with some full turnkey contracts agreed and signed in the tens of millions of dollars.

Read the full report, HERE.

Visit the IDMA website, HERE.

Van Aarsen company profile

Van Aarsen has become a household name worldwide for machinery and turnkey projects for animal feed technology, both for commercial feed producers and for vertically-integrated businesses.

Quality is of the utmost importance in both sectors of the industry and innovations in feed production are therefore of great interest.

Thanks to their extensive experience, engineers and technicians are always able to offer tailor-made solutions.

Visit the company site HERE.

29/08/2017: Lantmännen Cerealia Oat Mill in Sweden boosts its quality analysis with ‘easy-to-use’ image analyser

by Cgrain AB, Sweden

In Milling & Grain’s 2016 December issue, we featured an article about the new Cgrain Value analysis instrument that analyses grain quality using advanced image analysis with single kernel technology

Since then, the new technology has rendered further success. The instrument has, among other things, been installed at the Lantmännen Cerealia Oat Mill in Sweden, which handles 45,000 metric tonnes of oats per year and the instrument gives the mill information that has led to savings in several steps in the production process.

Unique patented design enables full surface analysis of every kernel
Cgrain Value is an image analysis instrument that assesses grain quality on the basis of single kernel analysis in most grain. Cgrain Value currently has applications for wheat, rye, triticale, barley, oats and dehulled/naked oats.

Defects that can be analysed are for example foreign cereals, foreign matter, weed seeds, pink fusarium in barley and green (immature) kernels. In addition to the visible defects, the user furthermore receives additional statistics regarding the lot as size measurements and can be used for sieving analysis.

The instrument has a patented design with mirrors that enables almost the entire surface of every kernel to be analysed. This is especially important when looking for defects that might only be visible on part of the kernel and gives the analysis a very high repeatability.

Cgrain Value can replace the manual assessment done today. The manual analysis is highly dependent on trained personnel, is time consuming, subjective and laborious. Cgrain Value provides an objective analysis and increases the reliability of the analysis as well as releasing time from staff and provides a better work environment.

Figure 2: Robert Söderberg at Lantmännen Cerealia talking to Jaan Luup, CEO of Cgrain AB, about the benifits of using Cgrain Value.
Image credit: Cgrain AB

Users choose the analytical parameters according to the application
Depending on the use, different grain consumers value grain quality in different ways. For a certain grain handler, impurities as foreign cereals can be the most important parameter, while for another grain user, size ranges or hygienic quality are more important, while foreign grains are of lesser importance.

When replacing a manual analysis with a high tech image analysis instrument, it is important to work close to the customer to find the parameters that are important to the grain quality for the current purpose. Cgrain AB has now implemented a number of successful installations at grain facilities by close cooperation and adaptations to customers' wishes. An example of this is the Lantmännen Cerealia Oat Mill in Sweden.

Operators appreciate easy use
Installation of the instrument at Lantmännen's oat mill in Sweden took place in the fall of 2016. Here the focus has been on the assessment of foreign cereals, as well as sieving analysis. Even peeled oats are determined in oats. Additionally, there are applications for finding oats with hull left in oats after peeling.

The instrument is used today at the grain reception in the oat mill, and operator Robert Söderberg is one of the users who has been involved since the installation of the instrument. He comments how “it was easy to get started and use the instrument because Cgrain Value is easy to use and I felt that it helped me right away. You feel certain that you haven’t missed anything and know that each grain lot has had the same assessment. I am very pleased with Cgrain Value and feel that it has improved our quality analysis.”

Read the full article, HERE.

Visit the Cgrain AB website, HERE.

Perten Instruments company profile

Food analysis experts for over 50 years

Founded in 1962, Perten Instruments, today part of PerkinElmer Inc., is a leading supplier of advanced analytical instruments to the food and agricultural industries.

They serve some of the largest companies, smaller specialised operations, and the research institutes that support them. They develop innovative methods and instruments which help the food industry feed the world more efficiently.

Perten solutions measure composition, test functionality, and monitor safety. They are used for ingredient screening, formulation, process monitoring, and final product quality control. They are placed in the field, at R&D facilities, in labs, at-line, and integrated into process systems.

Most importantly for their customers, their tools help reduce waste and improve efficiencies. As a key business of PerkinElmer, Perten is based in Stockholm, Sweden and serves customers in over 100 countries.

PerkinElmer is a global leader focused on innovating for a healthier world, with a dedicated team of 9,000 employees worldwide.

Together, they are passionate about providing customers with an unmatched experience as they help solve critical issues.

PerkinElmer's innovative detection, imaging, informatics and service capabilities, combined with deep market knowledge and expertise, help customers gain earlier and more accurate insights to improve lives and the world around us.

Visit the Perten Instruments website, HERE.

August 27, 2017

28/08/2017: Diamond V’s Europe team welcomes Dr Attila Kovács

Diamond V’s expertise continues to grow in Europe, with Dr. Attila Kovács, DVM, MVSc joining the team as Monogastric Commercial Manager, Europe

Dr Attila Kovács
Image credit: Diamond V

In his new role, Dr. Kovács will help grow and support Diamond V’s poultry and swine business in Europe. Dr. Kovács was born and raised in Bistriţa, Romania, and speaks Hungarian, his mother tongue, as well as fluent Romanian, English, Spanish and German.

He studied Veterinary Medicine at the University of Agricultural Science & Veterinary Medicine in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, specialising in animal nutrition, pathology, and surgery.

His bachelor thesis focused on phytogenic plant extracts for stress reduction in animals. He later earned his MVSc, also at the university in Cluj-Napoca, researching the epidemiological and immunological consequences of natural infection of Marek’s disease virus in chickens.

Dr. Kovács joined the animal industry working as a technical sales manager for Biochem, which is based in Germany.

He later joined Austria-based Biomin, where he advanced to lead the management team focused on acid-based products. He is based in Vienna, Austria.

Visit the Diamond V website, HERE.

28/08/2017: SCAFCO Grain Systems to offer “Grain Entrapment Prevention Kits”

In response to the rise in preventable fatalities from grain engulfment, SCAFCO Grain Systems Company will begin offering grain entrapment prevention kits for the entire line of flat bottom bins and a majority of larger hopper bottom bins in the near future

In the past ten years, the number of grain entrapments on farms and in commercial grain storage facilities has increased. Purdue University Professor, Dr. William Field, has tracked these mostly preventable accidents for more than thirty years.

Over the past 50 years, more than 900 cases of grain engulfment have been reported, and the fatality rate is 62 percent. The worst year in recent history was the 2010 grain storage season, in which there were over fifty grain entrapments and twenty-eight fatalities.

SCAFCO Grain Systems

Dynamics of entering grain bins
People enter bins for a variety of reasons, but the predominant reason for most entrapments has been “out of condition” grain that won’t flow to the centre discharge point. People enter the bin to attempt to dislodge the blockage, and many times the grain collapses under them or starts to flow rapidly to the discharge opening, drawing the person inside the bin into the grain mass, where they become entrapped or completely engulfed by stored grain.

Often, a contributing factor in these accidents is failure to shut off the unloading auger or conveyor. A simple safety rope attached to the person inside the bin may not be enough to restrain the person from being entrapped in grain. It is very difficult for the attendant standing outside the bin to restrain the weight of the person inside the bin if the grain flow or collapse of a hidden dome pulls him down into the grain.

If the trapped person is engulfed above his knees, he cannot extract himself from the grain mass and requires assistance to prevent further engulfment. Like quicksand, flowing grain can pull a 165-pound man down to waist level in seconds and bury him in less than a minute. Once grain gets above the knees, the amount of friction and pressure exerted on a person’s body makes escape without assistance nearly impossible.

The group working on safety standards
The Grain Elevator & Processing Society (GEAPS) had campaigned for awareness of these rising numbers of fatalities before 2010, but after that devastating season, they became more aggressive in their efforts to educate the grain storage industry about the hazards of grain entrapment.

They also pursued training for fire department rescuers of personnel trapped inside grain storage structures. For the past nine years, the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) has partnered with GEAPS in an effort to provide a consensus standard for grain bin entry in order to prevent grain entrapments. This effort focused on the bin manufacturers to design bins with tools to assist those who enter the bins to deal with grain that has gone out of condition.

The group met periodically and was comprised of engineers from grain systems companies, industry and university experts. Engineers from Behlen, Brock, Chief, GSI, MFS, SCAFCO, Sukup, AGI/Westeel, Sioux Steel, Hutchinson Mayrath, and Green Galvanized Stairs participated in the group. Industry and safety representatives from Star of the West Milling, NGFA, SATRA participated, and an OSHA representative was consulted. University representatives on the committee included Dr. Carol Jones of Oklahoma State University, Dr. William Field from Purdue University, and Dr. Bob Ahern of the University of Illinois. SCAFCO’s Daniel Wambeke, P. E., has lead this group for the past five years.

The committee has authored a proposed standard, X624 Grain Bin Entry, which has undergone many revisions. The final ballot to obtain consensus agreement will take place soon. The focus of X624 has been to prevent grain entrapments.

There are several basic rules recommended for persons entering the bin to prevent grain entrapment:
1. Never enter the bin unless you believe there is no other way to solve the storage or unloading problem.
2. Always shut off all filling and discharge augers and conveyors. The industry byword for this rule is “Lockout-Tagout,” and must be followed in commercial operations according to the requirement of the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA).
3. Never enter the bin by yourself. Always have an “observer” watching you outside the bin to assist you in case problems develop.
4. Use a “bin entry kit.” This kit consists of a quality personnel harness, an approved safety rope, a prusik rope brake and a knot-passing pulley.
5. The “bin entry kit” is to be used with the new grain entrapment prevention anchor points that North American bin manufacturers are starting to provide their customers for installation in new or existing grain storage bins.

Read the full article, HERE.

Visit the SCAFCO Grain Systems website, HERE.

Essmueller company profile

The Essmueller Company’s roots go back to Saint Louis, Missouri in 1878. One of its co-founders, Fred Essmueller, immigrated from Germany in 1865, thirteen years prior to his first partnership.

During this period, he gained fame as a millwright with IQ Halteman & Company. His specialties included ground-up building and renovation of flour mills along the Mississippi River.

Fred Essmueller had native talent and a strong will to succeed. Between 1878 and 1899, he formed and dissolved several partnerships. His last partner retired in 1899, and with the help of his son, Will (WC), he renamed the firm Essmueller Mill Furnishings Company.

It retained this name until 1941 when it was incorporated as The Essmueller Company. The company performed machining and fabrication 'job shop' work and one-of-a-kind equipment for mills in grain belt states.

Diverse on-site work locations were centered in Saint Louis and Kansas City, Missouri.

Visit the website HERE.

August 25, 2017

25/08/2017: Small farms in England in "steep decline"

Image courtesy of CPRE

A new report by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) today illustrates that England is rapidly losing its network of smaller farms, and the diversity in food and landscape they provide.

CPRE’s Uncertain Harvest uses official statistics from the UK and Europe to demonstrate that smaller farms in England are in steep decline [1]. Overall, a fifth of English farms have disappeared in the past 10 years, but the rate is fastest amongst the smallest farms. Almost a third of farms under 50 hectares disappeared between 2005 and 2015 [2].

Should these trends continue, CPRE suggests that farms under 50 hectares could all but disappear from the English countryside by the middle of the century.

CPRE believes that a mix of farm sizes and enterprises is crucial to maintaining England’s world-renowned landscapes and diversity of food. As part of this mix, smaller farms are vital to the countryside as they sustain rural communities through jobs and protect distinctive local character. In their diversity of approaches, they create greater diversity in food production and conservation, both of which shape rural heritage and rural economies.

Competition and market pressures have put great strain on smaller farms, with supermarkets controlling 90% of the retail market and forcing down prices [3]. During this time, smaller farms have also faced an inequitable funding model through the Common Agricultural Policy.

Following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, the Government has pledged to pursue a new funding settlement that rewards farmers for public goods and environmental benefits rather than the size of land holdings [4]. The future structure of public funding will likely determine the future of many smaller and struggling farms.

Graeme Willis, food and farming campaigner at the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), said: “There is a silent crisis in the farming sector. Smaller farms struggle to compete in the current market and, if the current trends continue, they could all but disappear from the English countryside by the middle of the century.

"While it is not a case of small versus big, smaller farms are vital to the diversity of our rural communities and our beautiful landscapes. Michael Gove has made positive statements about moving towards rewards for public goods and environmental benefits. We must use this platform to help all farms become economically and environmentally sustainable.

“To help smaller farmers succeed, the Government must research the health of the farming sector and assess the impact of any new funding model. Public finance should be designed with tapering to support all farmers for providing public benefits, and smaller farmers should be given a strong voice in the distribution of local funding. We must also make sure markets are fair and support our farmers. We all want a diverse, thriving countryside and wonderful food. Smaller farms are integral to both.”

To tackle the stark decline in smaller farms, CPRE recommends that the Government undertake research to assess the current health of the farming sector, especially in respect of the market, and to work out how any new funding models can help farms of all sizes prove economically and environmentally sustainable. Any regional-based funding must ensure small farmers have a strong voice to determine share and distribution, and assist new and young farmers across the sector.

[1] CPRE, Uncertain harvest: does the loss of the farms matter?, August 2017.
[2] These figures are based on statistics from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), published 2016. See CPRE, Uncertain harvest, p.8, Table 2.
[3] Jay Rayner, The Observer, 'Saving Britain's food supply: a manifesto to keep food on the table', 30 July 2017.
[4] Secretary of State, The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, 'The Unfrozen Moment - Delivering a green Brexit', 21 July 2017.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) fights for a better future for the English countryside. We work locally and nationally to protect, shape and enhance a beautiful, living countryside, so it can continue to sustain, enchant and inspire future generations. Founded in 1926, President: Emma Bridgewater, Patron: Her Majesty The Queen.

www.cpre.org.uk

Read the full report here.

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August 31, 2017

August 30, 2017

August 29, 2017

August 27, 2017

August 25, 2017