IGP grain purchasing course
Feed manufacturing and grain quality management curriculum coordinator Carlos Campabadal explains to participants how the compbine works to harvest soybeans. 
Photos courtesy of IGP.
 
MANHATTAN, KANSAS, U.S. — Grain buyers from Latin America attended the Oilseeds and Grain Purchasing Tools and Resources course July 9-13 at the IGP Institute Conference Center at Kansas State University.

Attending the course, sponsored by the U.S. Soybean Export Council, were 26 professionals from the following countries: Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Peru, Colombia, Singapore, Ecuador, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and the United States.

“This course is intended for purchasing directors and commodity traders in Latin America to improve all of their risk management and purchasing skills in order to do a better job in buying U.S. soybeans, soybean oil, or soybean meal,” said Carlos Campabadal, feed manufacturing and grain quality management curriculum manager at the IGP Institute.

IGP grain purchasing course
Participants visited O'Trimble farms and were able to hear from Kenlon Johannes, Kansas Soybean administrator and CEO, who spoke about the soybean growth and how local weather has affected the plants.
 
The course covered topics such as U.S. soy in global markets; storage, maintenance tools and resources on U.S. soy and grains; concepts for cash and hedging policies; and inside view of the Grain Transportation Report and other USDA reports; soy from origination to export markets; maritime freights theory; impact of soybean meal based on origin; commodity and ingredient hedging; oilseeds and grain cash market supply alternatives; introduction to technical analysis; U.S. soy sustainability; and commodity and ingredient hedging.

Participants also visited with Kenlon Johannes, administrator and CEO of the Kansas Soybean Commission, and Paul O’Trimble, a Kansas soybean farmer. The participants toured the family farm and saw the equipment used to harvest and store soybeans.

“(The course) has really helped me in the risk management side and the day-to-day working with soybean meal,” said Marvin Mateo, purchasing and  logistics manager at Costa Atlantica.

Campabadal said: “We are always looking forward to providing the technical assistance that is needed for the different regional markets to improve their purchasing skills.”

In addition to grain marketing and risk management, the IGP Institute offers courses in the areas of flour milling and grain processing, and grain purchasing and risk management.