Midwest Specialty Grains Conference Set for September 8-10, 2004 Minneapolis, Minn., USA -- “Building Relationships in the IP World” is the focus of the first annual Midwest Specialty Grains Conference and Trade Show set for September 8-10, 2004 in Minneapolis, Minn. Midwest Shippers Association (MSA) will host the conference at the Minneapolis Airport Marriott Hotel. Producers, processors and end-users from around the world are invited to the conference to learn more about the vast array of identity-preserved specialty crops produced in the Midwest. Topics for the conference include IP transportation, food safety, traceability and identity-preservation, specialty grain processing, risk management, and the global outlook for specialty grains. Conference participants will also have an opportunity for regional tours. One tour group will visit a food-grade soybean plot, processor facility, ethanol plant, and a University of Minnesota experiment station in the Minneapolis vicinity. A second group will travel to Fargo, N.D., to tour two university research plots, a milling company, processing plant, and Northern Crops Institute. The tours allow buyers to see the crops growing in the field, which is particularly important to foreign purchasers. Midwest Shippers Association is a regional cooperative association that promotes marketing of specialty grains from the upper Midwest. “The association was started, through funding from the state of Minnesota, to assist growers and country elevators in marketing their products directly,” said Carrol Duerr, general manager of the Midwest Shipper Association. “We found that the missing link in the marketing system was identifying clients on both ends. As the Midwest Shippers Association matched up the buyers and sellers, it became a win-win situation,” he said. Networking is a very important component of the conference. “We have three customers for whom the conference is a good fit for building relationships in the IP world: the farmer, the processor, and the end-user. Here are three parties trying to find each other in the dark, and we're going to turn the light on at the Specialty Grains Conference,” said Duerr. “A number of Japanese companies have confirmed their attendance. Taiwan and some from Europe have shown interest,” Duerr concluded. Processors, suppliers and producers involved in the emerging specialty grains industry will exhibit at the trade show. Duerr said exhibitor space is going fast. To register or for exhibitor information, contact MSA at 612-252-1453 or visit www.grainconference.com . Early bird registration fees apply through August 13. # # # For more information, contact: Story by Sally Sologuk, Northern Crops Institute
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