Fargo, N.D., USA – Northern Crops Institute (NCI) will offer nine technical courses in 2006, focusing on adding value to northern-grown U.S. crops.

NCI's 2006 short course schedule includes:

Protocol in International Business February 27

Northern Specialty Soybean Conferences March 14 & 15

Pasta Production and Technology April 5-7

Advanced Grain Procurement Strategies May 8-12

Managing Feed Quality June 14-16

Pasta: Raw Materials and Processing (International emphasis) August 7-11

Barley Malt Quality Evaluation Aug. 29-Sept. 1

Grain Procurement Management for Importers Sept. 25-October 4

Contracting U.S. Soybeans and Harvest Tour October 10-13

NCI will also customize technical courses on a number of topics to serve specialized training needs.

In 2005, Northern Crops Institute educated food and feed professionals from 46 countries of the world.

NCI serves as a resource center for international buyers, trade teams, and processors seeking technical information on northern-grown crops, such as current crop quality, unique characteristics of northern-grown crops, grain procurement strategies for these crops, product and process development, and value-added processing.

NCI specializes in baking, extrusion, crop quality, durum milling, feed manufacturing, malting and brewing, and pasta manufacturing. The institute does proprietary pilot-scale processing and product development work for many of the leading food companies in the United States.

NCI is funded by the states of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, and commodity groups in those states and Montana.

For more information on short courses, call 701-231-7736, email nci@ndsuext.nodak.edu , or visit NCI's website at www.northern-crops.com .

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