NAMA News
November 2006
Inside this Issue
- Delay of APHIS rule on fee and inspections on northern border
- NAMA asks USDA to keep enriched grains in the WIC program
- NAMA proactive in the food and facility security arena
- New committee chairs announced for the 2006-2008 term
- NAMA’s ITC meets with officials from USDA/USAID
- CBOT meets to discuss wheat futures contract
- Baker oat variety 2 released
- GFF Healthy Sandwich campaign generates tremendous results
- Bair speaks at Snack Food Association pretzel seminar
- Soft Wheat Quality Lab Research Review set for March 27 -28, 2007
- Conference calendar
- Since the last newsletter
Seasons Greetings
At this Holiday Season
Our thoughts turn gratefully
To those who have made
Our progress possible
Delay of APHIS rule on fee and inspections on northern border
USDA announced the delay of implementation of a rule introducing user fees on all airline passengers and conveyances entering the US from Canada and adding additional inspections on agriculture products entering the US from Canada. The delay will allow affected industries time to prepare for the change.
In comments submitted to APHIS, NAMA expressed concern the proposed rule would disrupt cross-border trade between the US and Canada. NAMA sited the need for more details on how APHIS plans to implement the rule and that USDA must give the industry time to hire the staff and build the infrastructure necessary to execute the plan.
Although a withdrawal of the rule at this point appears unlikely, NAMA intends to work with USDA and Department of Homeland Security officials to try to minimize the impact on the milling industry due to the low risk profile. Read NAMA’s comments
NAMA asks USDA to keep enriched grains in the WIC program
USDA has proposed revisions to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) food packages. Revisions include the addition of whole grain products to the food packages. In comments submitted to USDA, NAMA supported the addition of whole grains, but asked USDA not to exclude enriched grain products from the packages. Read NAMA's comments
NAMA proactive in the food and facility security arena
The new NAMA Food and Facility Security Committee has created three working groups: Guidance, SPPA, and Pandemic Flu Planning. The Guidance working group will develop model security guidance tools for NAMA members. The Pandemic Flu Planning group will develop a template for members to use to create their own plans for continuity of operations in health emergencies. The SPPA working group will prepare for and participate in a CARVER+Shock vulnerability assessment of the milling process through the government’s Strategic Partnership Program Agroterrorism (SPPA). FDA will conduct the assessment in cooperation with USDA, FBI and state and local government officials. NAMA would like to thank NAMA Director Bill Ford for inviting the government officials to tour the Shawnee Milling facility as part of the SPPA. Committee members will also participate with representatives from other industries in a rewrite of a security guidance document for tanker trucks.
New committee chairs announced for the 2006-2008 term
NAMA Chairman Rick L. Schwein announced the committee chairmen appointed for the 2006-2008 term. The chairmen were selected based on their experience and expertise in the subject matter of the committee. The new chairmen are:
Art Loeffler, Star of the West Milling Company – Food and Facility Security Committee
Paul Maass, ConAgra Mills – Budget/Finance Committee
James M. Meyer, Italgrani USA – Meeting Committee
James Sharp, C.H. Guenther & Son, Inc. – Ad Hoc Committee on Production Data
Keith Smith, Cargill Corn Milling – Ad Hoc Corn Dry Milling Conference Committee
R. Don Sullins, ADM Milling Company – Technical Committee
Stephen H. Wickes, Agricor, Inc. – International Trade Committee
They join the following committee chairmen who have been appointed for varying terms:
Rick Cole, General Mills, Inc. – Ad Hoc Committee on Farm Bill
Craig A. Fischer, ADM Milling Company – Kansas State Committee
Craig Hagood, House-Autry Mills, Inc. – Ad Hoc Committee on Whole Grains
Richard C. Siemer, Siemer Milling Company – Ad Hoc Committee on Methyl Bromide
Charles B. Stout, Pendleton Flour Mills, LLC – Production Promotion
NAMA’s ITC meets with officials from USDA/USAID
NAMA’s International Trade Committee (ITC) met at the Kansas City Commodity Office of the Farm Service Agency, with officials from USDA and the U.S. Agency for International Development. This has become an annual meeting to review topics related to tendering, quality control and overall policy for international food aid shipments. Focus this year was on issues related to specifications of NAMA products and efforts to increase nutrition delivery to recipients. Several follow up items will be pursued between NAMA staff and USDA/USAID.
CBOT meets to discuss wheat futures contract
Jim Bair, NAMA vice president, attended a meeting of the CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) where issues related to performance of the wheat futures contract were discussed. Those issues included the large increases in volume and volatility, open interest structure and lack of convergence with the cash market, changing the delivery instrument from a warehouse receipt to a shipping certificate, and possible increase in storage charges (which haven’t changed since about 1990).
The meeting in the CBOT visitor center auditorium was standing room only, and passionately expressed opinions ranged from no changes necessary to dramatic changes needed. Bair described for the group how the contract has been losing its value as a hedging tool due to lenient quality parameters, and the recent trends are further diminishing its value.
A CBOT official stated his belief that in January the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will propose to amend the Commitment of Traders Report to split the data into two groups – traditional commercial interests reported as one group with another for the index funds that are the source of the new volume and volatility.
NAMA-supported oat variety – Baker – released to growers
The first oat variety produced at Iowa State University in nearly 15 years has been successfully commercialized. NAMA helped fund the research developing the Baker oat. NAMA Vice President Jim Bair participated in a ceremony to launch the commercial release of the new oat variety in the offices of the Dean of Agriculture at Iowa State University. The Baker oat is available from two Iowa seed companies and one in Minnesota.
There are no private oat research programs in the US, and publicly funded oat research totals only about $4.6 million annually. As a result, the agronomic performance of oats continues to fall further behind competing crops, and 2006 oat production was the smallest since USDA began keeping records in 1866. It is hoped the new variety will give growers in the upper Midwest a reason to consider oats for at least a small portion of their total acreage.
Agronomist Jean-Luc Jannink and his research team at the Small Grains Breeding Lab developed the Baker oat variety named after Raymond F. Baker, an Iowa State agronomy alumnus who went on to become the lead plant breeder of the Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., and developed many of the company’s first hybrid seed corns.
In Iowa, the Baker oat displayed excellent yield and high groat percentage. Of the highest-yielding varieties tested the last few years, Baker is above average for disease resistance. It is also high in beta-glucan, a soluble fiber that accounts for oat’s beneficial heart health effects. Baker ranked first and second for protein and oil yield, respectively, making it a valuable feed oat for on-farm use as well.
GFF Healthy Sandwich campaign generates tremendous results
The Grain Foods Foundation’s (GFF) America’s Healthy Sandwich Showdown campaign has come to a close with tremendous results. The campaign generated 107.6 million media impressions through print, broadcast and online outreach. To date, GFF has secured more than 150 million impressions in the first three months of the year three program.
GFF is now preparing for the national launch of the Healthy Baby campaign in early January.
Bair speaks at Snack Food Association pretzel seminar
NAMA vice president Jim Bair spoke at the annual Snack Food Association pretzel seminar in Baltimore, Maryland. He presented information about declining wheat production in the US.
Soft Wheat Quality Lab Research Review
March 27 -28, 2007
Each year the Soft Wheat Quality Laboratory hosts a research review of soft wheat quality at Wooster Ohio. Next year's meeting will be held on March 27th and 28th, 2007. Regional and national speakers will present current research on gluten in soft wheat.
The laboratory has posted new information on soft wheat cultivar quality. The 2006 edition of the long-term database of soft winter wheat quality is posted online. The results of quality evaluations for eastern US soft winter wheat nurseries are also posted. Read the results
Conference calendar
2007 Division Meetings, Sarasota, FL
Ritz-Carlton Sarasota
March 10-13, 2007
2007 Annual Meeting, Savannah, GA
The Mansion on Forsyth Park
September 27-29, 2007
2008 Division Meetings, Palm Coast, FL
The Club at Hammock Beach
March 15-18, 2008
2008 Annual Meeting, Lake Tahoe, NV
Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe
September 25-27, 2008
NAMA in the news
Study: Wheat Gene Can Boost Nutrients In Bread, Pasta
CattleNetwork.com, KS
Nov 29, 2006
... US groups such as the National Association of Wheat Growers and the North American Millers' Association agreed at a meeting earlier this year that ...
Powerful ties among millers of different grains
Morton I. Sosland Editor-in-Chief
World Grain
Nov 1, 2006
... In a grain world where processing is usually divided by the type of grain being milled, the success of the North American Millers’ Association (NAMA) presents an impressive case for expanded cooperation among millers ...
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