Photo courtesy of IGP.
The course is designed for professionals who work in the milling industry but may not know the flour milling process. It does not require any prior milling experience. It is geared for new mill employees, and mill HR staff and managers, grain and ingredient procurement managers, feed and flour sales representatives, production schedulers, research and development staff, wheat breeders, grain inspection personnel, food program administrators, international wheat/grain traders, journalists, extension agents, wheat commission staff or board members, and agricultural and business economic analysts.
Many course participants enjoy learning through a combination of lectures and hands-on lab exercises in the Hal Ross Flour Mill and the Shellenberger Baking Lab on the Kansas State University campus.
“The classroom experience is really enjoyable and the instructors are very knowledgeable,” said Jordan Goerger, manager of rail transportation at Ardent Mills in Denver, Colorado, U.S. “It’s really nice that they have both academic and professional experience in the industry. The lab exercises really hit home for me and I really learned a lot from it.”
The course brings in several participants each year who have an interest for the milling industry and want to build their knowledge of flour milling.
“It gives professionals in the milling industry with little or no milling background an excellent understanding of the milling process from starting in the wheat field to using the flour for baking,” said Shawn Thiele, course instructor and IGP’s flour milling and grain processing curriculum manager.
This learning experience for the participants not only helped them acquire an understanding for the milling process, but also hit on a personal level where the course participants can take back this information to their companies to apply in their operations.
“Being able to see how the different flours perform differently will benefit me in my job when talking to different rail companies and help my company be more successful,” Goerger said.
