IGP USSEC_Feed course for Middle East and North africa feed industry in May 2017
Participants in the USSEC MENA Feed Manufacturing course tour the KSU Dairy Facilities.
Photo courtesy of IGP.
 
MANHATTAN, KANSAS, U.S. – The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are two regions in the world that both import U.S. soybeans and soybean meal and buy other U.S. commodities. To teach them about manufacturing methods and quality requirements, participants from both regions attended the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Feed Manufacturing course May 15–19 at the IGP Institute Conference Center in Manhattan, Kansas, U.S.

The course included classroom lectures and presentations as well as tours of several industry-related businesses and facilities.

“This is a tailor-made course focused on feed manufacturing,” said Carlos Campabadal, IGP’s feed manufacturing and grain quality specialist. “We are aiming to teach the participants how to improve feed production.”

Campabadal said the main goal is for participants to learn the best techniques and then to go back to their own companies with that knowledge, with the overall goal that they continue buying more U.S. soybeans and soybean meal.

IGP USSEC_Feed course for Middle East and North africa feed industry in May 2017
Carlos Campabadal, course coordinator, explains process of feed manufacturing at Kansas State’s O.H. Feed Technology Center.
Photo courtesy of IGP.
 
Several of the topics covered in the course included grain, soybean and feed ingredient storage and mycotoxin control; quality control in feed manufacturing; particle size reduction; batching and mixing; pelleting; steam systems; pellet cooling and crumbling; post-pellet liquid applications; feed mill management key performance indicators; understanding the U.S. grain export system; feed mill maintenance; and design and new technology used in feed manufacturing.

“I especially enjoyed learning in this course here at IGP, but also the tour in the feed mill and the dairy farm,” said Hicham Benkatta, veterinarian at Sofalim in Settat, Morocco.

Benkatta describes that he knew about American grains before the course, but now that he has learned more about the industry, he will take the information he learned back with him to his company.

The tours for the course included trips to the KSU Dairy facilities, the O.H. Kruse Feed Technology Center and Midwest Ag Services Feed Mill in Seneca, Kansas.