New! GFMT article: Profitable aquafeed moisture control

The second of our aquafeed focus articles looks at profitable moisture control at the drying stage. John Robinson of Drying Technology Inc shows us the ropes.

Read the full article here.

Profitable moisture control in aquafeeds

05/03/13: World grain supply; pig feed formulation; Melbourne grain exports on the up

There were only 67 days of grain supply in the world in January, says former World Bank president Robert Zoellick. The remark was made during a speech at the Forum for the Future of Agriculture conference which takes place today in Brussels, Belgium. Don't worry if you're not there, the event is being streamed online.

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Canola, cottonseed, and sunflower products can replace soybean meal in diets fed to pigs, but they contain less protein and energy according to research conducted at the University of Illinois, USA. To determine if it makes economic sense to use them, producers need to know the concentrations and digestibility of the nutrients they contain. To help them make the decision, University of Illinois researchers examined amino acid digestibility for these products.

"Soybean is by far the biggest oilseed crop in the world," said Hans Stein, professor of animal sciences. "But canola, cottonseed, and sunflowers are grown in areas where soybeans can’t grow. When the oil is taken out of the seed, meal is left over, as with soybean meal.”

His team looked at amino acid digestibility in both intact canola seeds and canola meal, as well as in cottonseed meal, intact sunflower seeds, dehulled sunflower meal, and sunflower meal with hulls, on which there has been little recent digestibility research. The study included soybean meal for comparison.

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It's been a bumper month for grain exports at Emerald Grain’s Melbourne Port Terminal. The grain handling facility has reported its strongest month of exported since it opened in 2000. During February, more than 185,000 tonnes of grain passed through the facility and on to eight destinations across Asia and Africa including China, Japan and Mozambique.

Glen Collision, general manager storage and handling, Emerald Grain said the record month was thanks to improved efficiencies across Emerald’s supply chain. “Emerald has a long-term lease of two locomotives which transport grain quickly from Emerald’s storage sites in New South Wales and Victoria and through to the port.”

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English: Close up of blooms on a canola plant near Yorkton, Saskatchewan. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

New! GFMT article: Yeast in aquaculture feeds

In this article, Philippe Tacon PhD, Lesaffre Feed Additives, France, looks at the role of yeast in aquaculture feeds.

Yeast products are becoming more and more popular in aquaculture. However many products (as a whole or as fractions) are on the aquaculture market at the moment and differentiating between one from another can be difficult. This small article aims at casting some light on the subject and explaining that all yeasts not are equal. 

Read the full article here.

Yeast in aquaculture feeds

Satake

In 1896, the founder of the Satake Corporation, Riichi Satake, invented and began the production of Japan's first power driven rice milling machine.
In the subsequent one hundred years, a succession of successful developments and a wealth of accumulated research and knowledge have made Satake the world leader in grain processing systems. Satake produces a comprehensive range of individual machines, integrated systems and totally engineered solutions for the processing of rice, wheat and other grains. Click on the image to visit the Satake website.

04/03/13: Milling in 1889; rice milling in Pakistan; UK and GM feed

We start the week with a blast from the past. 1889 in fact. These photos from Victoria in British Columbia, Canada show an rice mill in action. 

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The struggling rice milling industry in Sindh, Pakistan is to receive financial aid from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Sindh Enterprise Development Fund (SEDF). The State Bank of Pakistan has agreed to extend the credit finance to commercial banks for onward lending to rice millers at 6.25 percent in a bid to prop up the ailing industry.

SEDF will deposit 30 percent of the principal amount with the SBP as credit guarantee and will earn a profit, as well. Of this, SEDF will pick up 6.25 percent due to rice millers and payable to the SBP to support rice millers.
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Food prices will rise quicker unless Britain embraces GM food, says the British Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson. Speaking at the National Union of Farmers conference, Paterson told delegates that a delay on GM crops could push up food prices. However, 85 percent of meat consumed in Britain was fed of GM soy maize for cost reasons.
Read Paterson's speech in full...

English: Boiled Rice (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

New! GFMT article: Ports

In a new series of features in GFMT we take a look at grain handling facilities at ports and terminals around the world. To kick things off, Vigan tells us about its loading and unloading technology in Djibouti, Sete and Muuga. There are some fantastic photos which are well worth a look

Click here to read the full article.

Ports

01/03/13: NIR social media site; snow causes wheat price fall; 4B introduces new bucket elevator line

Foss has launched a new NIR social media website. NIRperformance.com is an online resource centre for professionals in the feed industry who work with near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy technology. 

Much of the information on NIRperformance.com is divided into four main areas: Calibration, Production control, Technology and Application. Each of these categories features informative content that address specific issues and advances within NIR analysis in the feed industry.

Visit the website...

Global wheat prices have taken a tumble due to adverse snowfall in the the USA. Prices have dropped to their lowest level since June 2012 following heavy snow in the country.

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4B Components Ltd. has designed a new large sized ultra-heavy duty elevator bucket line intended for the most severe agro-industrial uses, such as port and river terminals, ethanol and fertilizer plants, or frac sand and aggregate operations.
The new super strong JUMBO CC-S® offers greater carrying capacity, along with ultra-durability and wear resistance. It has the thickest front lip, front corners and walls available for longer life. The JUMBO CC-S® is a High-EfficiencyTM elevator bucket, and comes in six sizes ranging from 14x8 to 24x8 with additional sizes pending.
As an extension of the proven and successful heavy duty CC-S® elevator bucket, the JUMBO CC-S® also incorporates the long lasting Iceberg® Edge front wear lip and the unique tapered bottom. Designed for the closest possible vertical spacing (projection +1/2”), the tapered bottom ensures efficient bucket fill and discharge, especially in low-profile configurations. This design allows the buckets to nest inside one another, delivering transport cost savings and storage efficiencies. “The JUMBO CC-S® offers a substantial upgrade opportunity for anyone requiring thicker walled elevator buckets”, says Carl Swisher, sales manager for material handling at 4B Components.

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wheat_01 (Photo credit: NDSU Ag Comm)