The Global Miller

July 02, 2017

03/07/2017: Feed and poultry nutrition course provided through US Soybean Export Council

USSEC and the IGP Institute team up to provide training course in feed and poultry nutrition for Japanese participants

Feed manufacturing and nutrition standards are continually updating and becoming more detailed and precise in today’s operations.

Richard Miles, professor at the University of Florida, discusses feeding laying hens under heat stress and stressful conditions in the USSEC Japan Feed and Poultry Nutrition training.
Image credit: Kansas State University

Recently, the Kansas State University IGP Institute hosted a group from Japan to learn about feed and poultry nutrition.

The US Soybean Export Council (USSEC)–KSU Japan Feed and Poultry Nutrition training was held for eight industry professionals June 12–16, 2017.

This collaboration was done with USSEC organising the group, the Kansas Soybean Commission helping sponsor the course, and the IGP Institute at Kansas State University hosting the group and providing the technical training.

The course covered a variety of topics that discussed both sides of feed and poultry nutrition. These topics included digestive tract structure integrity and efficiency, broiler breeder nutrition and management, feeding laying hens under heat stress and stressful conditions, ideal amino acid profile and requirements for broilers and layers, maintaining quality when importing US grain and mycotoxin control, quality control on a feed mill and pelleting process for poultry feed production.

“I really enjoyed learning about the poultry nutrition from all of the professors in the course,” says Koji Gondo from Nihon Nosan in Yokohama, Japan.

“I am in poultry nutrition in my company so I will be able to use this information from the course for my corporation.”

Along with classroom lectures and discussions, participants were also toured the O.H. Kruse Feed Technology Innovation Center in Manhattan, Kansas; Bill Manville’s farm near Winchester, Kansas; Midwest Ag Enterprises in Kansas City, Kansas; DeLong Container Facility near Edgerton, Kansas; and a poultry farm near Syracuse, Missouri.

“The USSEC Japan Poultry course is a great example on how collaboration between organisations to enhance the usage and awareness of US soybean and soybean meal to an international market,” says Carlos Campabadal, course coordinator and IGP’s feed manufacturing and grain quality management specialist.

“We hope that they had an excellent experience in Kansas and that they are able to apply their knowledge at their respective companies.”

This is one example of the specialised trainings offered by the IGP Institute.

In addition to feed manufacturing and grain quality management, the institute holds trainings in flour milling and grain processing, and grain marketing and risk management.

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

Interview: Paul Phillips, President of Maxi-Lift, Inc

Paul Phillips graduated from West Texas A&M in 1992 with a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing. This was to be the start of a very successful and very full career within the agricultural industry.

Paul received his MBA in 1995 from The University of Texas before attending several postgraduate courses including one in marketing at The Harvard Business School.

He is currently the President of Maxi-Lift, Inc., a worldwide manufacturer of plastic elevator buckets. He is also the Vice President of Marketing for Southwest Agri-Plastics, a sister company that manufacturer plastic products for the cattle, swine, chicken and egg industries.

Mr Phillips previously served as the Chairman on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the AFIA (American Feed Industry Association), he has served as a Representative of the AFIA to the International Feed Industry Federation in conjunction with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN, and has served as the past Chairperson for the Equipment Manufacturers Committee of AFIA.

He chaired the Exhibitor Advisory Committee for the joint meeting with AFIA, the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, and the North American Meat Institute and was selected as the Member of the Year for AFIA in 2011.

Finally, Paul also holds several patents for new products used in the agricultural, industrial, and horticultural industries.

How did you come to be working in the elevator bucket building business?
I had several different options including working as the third generation in our family business. My grandfather was an entrepreneur and had started three different businesses. My dad continued in his footsteps. I decided to work on a farm during my high school and college days and enjoyed the agriculture community. While Maxi-Lift is primarily a manufacturer of plastics products, it is intricately involved in the agriculture sector and it seemed to fit me better.

Has living in one of the best grain - wheat and maize - areas in the world provided innovation opportunities for your business?
Being in the heart of the the agricultural world and working with other extremely knowledgeable people in the agriculture industry, it is common to find innovative ways to improve the production and processing equipment to help our customer move more product, faster, and more efficiently.
Everyone is pushing to move more tonnes or bushels to achieve their necessary targets for shipments on rail or for export. With several of our new products, we are able to greatly increase the capacity of the plants, allowing them to turn corn, soybeans, and wheat faster.

How important is good handling and storage in terms of millers achieving maximum yields of product from grains?
Good storage and handling is critical to the success of the final product. Any type of damage to the corn or wheat will have a big impact on the value of the crop, in addition to the yield and nutrients found in them.
For example, we continue analysing the amount of damaged and broken grain from moving corn, soybeans, and wheat through bucket elevators. We want to preserve the entire kernel as it flows through the process without damaging it.

Is grain-handling technology universally understood?
I believe the more developed countries around the world have the newer technology that allows them to produce higher quality, more efficient, longer lasting systems. They tend to be more engineering focused and proactively help resolve many of the issues of grain handling and storage equipment. They use the latest software programs to not only design the equipment, but also to improve the flow of the material through the bucket elevators, conveyors, and spouts.
I also believe that other countries are starting to play catchup with the more developed countries. They are investing in their people, building better systems, and trying to improve their equipment so that it can meet the higher, tougher demands of customers.

What were your biggest achievements as Chairman of AFIA?
The American Feed Industry Association is the leading feed organisation in the USA. Its members produce over 75 percent of all the commerical feed. AFIA is unique in that they bring all areas of the feed industry under one roof. This integration brings a strong diversity to the group, while also allowing each member to understand the industry more completely. Working side-by-side with each other on committees and the Board, this group helps resolve the important issues of the feed industry from every aspect.
I have been involved with AFIA for over 15 years, working with the Equipment Manufacturers Committee the longest, and later with the Board of Directors and the Executive Board.
In 2015, I was nominated to be chair-elect, and this past year I served as the Chairman, it was a great honor to serve the feed industry in this role. We accomplished a lot over the past year.
I just finished my term in May, and will be working as the Chairman of the IFEEDER Foundation this next year to help support feed research and education for our membership as well as for the agricultural community.

Where do you see the grain handling industry in 20 years time?
The grain handling industry is growing in a few different directions.
First, the world will have to continue to produce more grain, feed, and flour to feed the booming population around the world. This means that we will have to find ways to not only grow more on less land, but also be able to move it more efficiently around the world.
Second, the lesser-developed countries need help from the other nations to learn better techniques for growing, storing, processing, and utilising these grains. We have to clearly understand our duty and obligation to find ways to help those who are less fortunate build their own food resources so that they can grow and thrive to support their own people and economy.
Over the coming years, it will be vital for us to find ways to help them sustain their own food systems which includes grain, feed, and flour.

June 30, 2017

30/06/2017: Bühler contributes to Mogyi Kft growth in the snack seeds and popcorn market

Mogyi technician Mr Zoltán Vida setting up SORTEX B ColorVision

SORTEX® technology is playing an important role in the success of one of Europe’s leading nut and seed snack processors, as it continues to expand in the private label sector and with its own, widely recognised “Mogyi” brand and sub-brands - such as its recently launched Caramoon caramel coated popcorn, Gastropop savoury popcorn, and flavoured sunflower seeds.

Mogyi Kft. attributes its growth to its ability to adapt to customer needs and maintaining exemplaryfood safety standards, underpinned by advanced processing technology.

Headquartered in the Hungarian town of Csávoly, Mogyi Kft. originally launched in 1990, with just five staff and one small processing line. It now operates four production plants and eight subsidiary companies around Europe and sells into more than 25 countries.

A significant part of Mogyi’s achievements are a result of adhering to strict quality assurance systems and investing in the latest plant technology. Mogyi has used optical sorters for more than 20 years, originally installing the technology for its sunflower seed hulling facility. As standards have progressively become more rigorous, Mogyi has invested in more sophisticated technology to consistently meet exacting food safety and quality standards.

In 2013 Mogyi incorporated its first SORTEX optical sorter into its sunflower seed cleaning line. This proved so successful that, in order to provide consistent product quality, it installed another one in the same year, at its second sunflower seed cleaning plant. The following year, Mogyi added a third sorter for popcorn and since then it has added two SORTEX B ColorVision™ optical sorters to its processing lines as popcorn and decorticated pumpkin seeds production has boomed.

Krisztián Weidinger, procurement manager for Mogyi Kft, explains: ʺThe consumer market we serve is increasingly challenging. Our customers expect the highest quality products, which also means that food safety is a priority for us. Bühler tailored the sorters to our requirements, to deliver consistent quality of the seeds we sort, while also ensuring that contaminants, which were difficult to remove previously, disappeared from our end product.ʺ He adds that the company also chose Bühler because it needed technology that could be easily incorporated into existing processing lines. ʺBühler ran trials for us first at its London HQ, to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of its optical sorters. The results on our samples of sunflower seeds exceeded all our expectations, achieving a 99.8% accept quality,ʺ he says, adding that installing Bühler technology has enabled it to achieve the homogenous popcorn and sunflower seed colour that is crucial to improved quality. The product sorted by Bühler machines is not only now cleaner, but also has an improved yield and reduced waste.

Weidinger adds that it’s important that the business works in partnership with its equipment suppliers, to ensure it can reflect its company values and help it to deliver exceptional service to its own customers. Mogyi will only use equipment and suppliers, which are able to meet its high standards. Bühler is an industry leader, continuously investing in research and development, consistently introducing innovative technologies, machine upgrades and new applications. Its wide range of sorters are equipped with different technologies and processing capacities, at various price points to suit individual processor needs.

“As our business expands continuously, we require new solutions and flexible machine configurations to not only match our capacity, but also to adapt to different products and types of contamination – we found that Bühler technology was able to cope with these needs,’’ says Weidinger. Andras Abt, Area Sales Manager at Bühler, points out that Bühler was also able to offer Mogyi bespoke maintenance and technical support. ‘’Keeping machine down-time to a minimum is crucial for any processor, because prolonged downtime can adversely impact profits. Fortunately, Bühler’s machines are reliable. But if any technical issues were to crop up, local engineers would be available to provide immediate help."

Visit the Bühler website here.

June 29, 2017

30/06/2017: Expander technology “an absolute addition to a modern feed mill”

by Almex, Triott Group

The global growing demand for high quality feeds made of a wide range of available raw materials is to the advantage of the expander

Image credit: Triott Group

Several scientific studies and proven results at clients such as UFA, Deuka, Fanon, Agravis, Vitelia, Mironovsky and others show that expander technology is an absolute addition to a modern feed mill as a tool to fulfill the wide range of needs at clients to supply different feedstuffs for the different life stages of animals.

Besides traditional meal and pellets, farmers ask for crumbled feed, expanded pelleted feeds and mono-components that have been treated with expander technology for example for use in TMR feeding.

In the fields of nutritional value, digestibility and feed utilization interesting results have been achieved with expander technology in feed for high yielding dairy cattle, broiler and pigfeed. (Table 1) A recent trial at the well-known UFA-Bühl research farm showed interesting results in daily gain in advantage to expanded feed compared to traditional meal.

One such company who provide this kind of technology is “Almex”. Almex has been a leading supplier of expanding technology since the early 1970’s. Since 2014 they have been a part of the Triott group, and as such, can now supply complete pelleting lines including automation.

The designs of the distinguished Almex Expanders are considered reliable and notably robust. These are just a few of the many unique selling points of the product, such as the Active Disc System and the lower energy costs. The lower energy costs can be explained by the power input for the expander, depending on the type of feed.

In general this power input is between 8-15 kW per ton. For special applications such as by-pass protected protein energy input can even be up to 20-30 kW per ton. This is important at these applications, as is that the counter flow cooler is oversized to ensure the proper cooling of these types of products.

Read the full article, HERE.

Visit the Almex website, HERE.

Sukup Manufacturing Co. company profile

SukupManufacturing Co. is a family-owned manufacturer of grain bins, grain dryers, material handling equipment and pre-engineered metal buildings.

According to their website, “The world's fastest growing bin company and largest family-owned, full-line grain drying and storage equipment manufacturer, Sukup Manufacturing Co. is located in the heart of rich, Midwestern farmland.”

Since the introduction of their first stirring machine in 1963, they have been manufacturing products to make grain production more efficient for farmers.

If you are ever near Sheffield, Iowa, stop by. The team at Sukup would love for you to get in contact to arrange a tour of their facilities.

View 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

30/06/2017: Quick flour and gluten quality checks by rheological fingerprints

The Brabender GlutoPeak measures the aggregation behaviour of gluten in a flour sample, for the purposes of describing its quality properties

Why is this important?
- Gluten is responsible for the elasticity and extensibility characteristics of dough
- Stretching and elastic properties of gluten give information about flour quality and the suitability for a given purpose
- Recognition of drying and heat damage on flour and dry gluten

How does it work?
• A mixture of flour and water is created.
• The equipment separates the gluten complex, before aggregating it to a characteristic network, which is then broken down by a rotating mechanical measuring paddle that measures the energy inputs.
• A torque curve is recorded. The formation of the gluten network results in a strong increase of the curve. Further mixing destroys the network resulting in a decrease of the curve.
• The resulting torque curve has a typical shape. It is the ‘fingerprint’ of the individual flour.

Brabender GlutoPeak
Image credit: Brabender

What is the result?
The time taken to reach the maximum point on the curve, the peak, and its height and subsequent decline all provide essential information on flour and gluten quality and its rheological properties.

This information is available in short time at all in a way that can be easily read:
• Strong gluten has short rise times with high peaks,
• Weak gluten can be recognised by its delayed, flat curve peaks,
• Very soft gluten demonstrates very flat curves with very late and low peaks, right up to ‘zero peaks’, as is typical for wheat used in waffles.

New method: Rapid Flour Check
Compared to the existing evaluation, the new Rapid Flour Check method provides new options. With just 9g of flour and 9g of distilled water, close correlations for the protein content, wet gluten, water absorption and W value are available besides the standard evaluation points.

What are the benefits of the instrument?
• Fast test execution (1-10min)
• Small sample size: ~3-10g
• Easy handling
• Detection of inappropriate material makes further tests redundant
• No production losses due to use of inappropriate material
• Assurance of good flour and end product quality

Who can benefit from this instrument?
• Breeders can quickly screen grain qualities with small sample sizes
• Grain traders and millers can efficiently organise incoming goods control and storage in silos and can control process adjustments in the mill
• Bakers can quickly check incoming goods and specifications of those

Read more, HERE.

29/06/2017: The EU's AMR Action Plan recognises the importance of animal feeding

FEFAC, the organisation representing the EU compound feed and premix industry within the European Union, welcomes the publication of the new EU ‘AMR Action Plan’ with its three pillars:

i) Making the EU a best-practice region
ii) Boosting research, development & innovation
iii) Shaping the global agenda

The EU Commission has in particular identified as key action for a better control and prevention of AMR to continue to promote animal husbandry, including aquaculture and livestock farming systems, and feeding regimes, which support good animal health and welfare to help reduce the need for antibiotics at farm level.

This is a clear recognition of the contribution animal nutrition science can provide in the fight against AMR, in line with the conclusions of the EFSA-EMA RONAFA report issued in January 2017: “Safe and nutritionally balanced feed are effective preventive measures to help animals to cope with pathogens by enhancing the overall animal health & welfare status through specific feeding strategies, feed composition, feed formulations or feed processing.”

The EU prohibition on the use of antibiotics for growth promotion purposes in 2006 boosted the feed sector’s innovation capacity. A number of feed ingredients, in combination with improved processing technology, have shown to play an effective role in fostering the natural defences of animals and optimising gut health. However, FEFAC expected that the EU Commission would have put a higher priority on public funding of research to prove the safety and efficacy of some of the innovative feed solutions listed in the RONAFA report.

FEFAC is concerned that some of these solutions may even disappear from the market in absence of public funding. FEFAC also calls for an improved regulatory framework on authorisation of feed additives, feed labelling and claims on nutritional benefits for maintaining a good animal health status, in order to facilitate transfer of nutritional knowledge and innovative solutions to the farm level.

FEFAC shares the view expressed in the RONAFA report that the fight against AMR also requires strong cooperation among stakeholders at national level. FEFAC, therefore, would like to stress the need for national authorities to ensure coordination of efforts undertaken by all relevant stakeholders in national AMR action plans. Chain partners with close connections to livestock farmers (e.g. feed suppliers, veterinarians, animal health industry) should join forces and create national and local networks of expertise to disseminate best practices and co-ordinate advice to farmers.

Read more HERE.

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