What's New at NCI?
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August 30, 2010 -- The Japanese End Products Collaborative Team spent a week at NCI developing protocols for specific end products, identifying flour quality specifications, and learning more about U.S. wheat classes and blends of classes. Another purpose of this exercise was for NCI staff to develop a better understanding of how to meet Japanese quality needs. The program was sponsored by U.S. Wheat Associates. The team was accompanied by Wataru Utsunomyia, the country director of the U.S. Wheat Associates Office in Tokyo, Japan. In addition to baking trials and product evaluations in the NCI Baking Laboratory, they met with Mohamed Mergoum, Ph.D., NDSU HRS wheat breeder, Senay Simsek, Ph.D., NDSU spring wheat quality specialist, and Jim Peterson, Marketing Director with the N.D. Wheat Commission. The team also toured the ND Mill, Grand Forks, and visited local supermarkets to become acquainted with U.S. commercial bread products.
Link to Short Course Photos |
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August 27, 2010 -- Two representatives of Nippon Flour Mills, Japan, visited the region to assess the quality of the 2010 wheat crop. They were escorted by Erica Olson, Marketing Specialist for the North Dakota Wheat Commission. After an overview of NCI and tour with NCI Director Brian Sorenson, they met with several experts to learn more about the regional wheat situation. William Wilson, Ph.D., NDSU Professor, gave an update of biotech wheat and U.S. ethanol. Senay Simsek, Ph.D., NDSU Assistant Professor, presented an update on the 2010 HRS wheat quality, and Frank Manthey, Ph.D., NDSU Associate Professor, discussed the 2010 durum crop quality. Olson reported on the outlook for HRS and durum. |
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August 22, 2010 -- The Philippine Pafmill--Champflour Trade Team is at NCI to learn more about the region's HRS Wheat. Their escort is Shane Townsend, U.S. Wheat Associates, Manila. The team will meet with Mohamed Mergoum, Ph.D., NDSU Spring Wheat Breeder; and Senay Simsek, Ph.D., NDSU Wheat Quality Specialist, for overviews of their programs. Erica Olson, Marketing Specialist, N.D. Wheat Commission, will discuss the U.S. HRS Wheat outlook. William Wilson, Ph.D., NDSU, will report on wheat biotechnology and protein premiums. NCI Director Brian Sorenson and Assistant Director John Crabtree will discuss NCI's educational programs and lead a tour of NCI. The team will also visit Maple River Grain and Agronomy, Casselton, N.D.; the Bryan Hest Farm at Perley, Minn.; and the N.D. Mill, Grand Forks. |
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August 19, 2010 -- A Chinese team attended a two-day workshop at NCI on pea quality August 18-20. The workshop was co-sponsored by the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council (USADPLC). Heading up the team was Pete Klaiber, (back row, second from left), USADPLC Director of Marketing, Moscow, ID, and Jiebei (Lucy) Dai, (middle row, second from left), Consulting Manager, and Vivian Ma, (front row center), both with USADPLC Shanghai. The workshop was coordinated by Mehmet Tulbek, (second row left), NCI Technical Director. Thunyaporn Jeradechachai, (back row left), NCI Crop Quality Specialist, presented the 2009 U.S. Pulse Quality Survey and led the laboratory baking sessions. Kevin McPhee, Ph.D., NDSU Pulse Breeder, discussed the NDSU Pulse Breeding program. Clifford Hall, Ph.D., (back row center), introduced the team to the pulse utilization projects conducted at NDSU.
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Link to Course Photos |
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August 18, 2010 – A six-member team from Kosovo visited NCI to learn more about regional agriculture. The focus of this Cochran Fellowship group was the formation and implementation of U.S. agricultural policy. NCI Director Brian Sorenson introduced them to the crops grown in the region and the work done at NCI. The group also toured the NCI Feedmill, hosted by Kim Koch, Ph.D., Feed Center manager. "The visit to NCI gave them a good picture of the implementation of international trade policy in this region. Two of the participants are ministry of agriculture employees, two are university faculty, one is a farmer and one is a USAID employee in Kosovo. It was a good visit for the group," says Don Anderson, (front row left), Ph.D., NDSU professor emeritus, who served as their escort.
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August 17, 2010 -- Fourteen participants from brewing and malt companies are attending the Barley Malt Quality Evaluation technical course at NCI this week. The maltsters, brewers, and food processors from Canada and the USA will learn more about the quality components of barley and malt necessary to produce an acceptable beer. Course topics include U.S. barley production and variety development, barley malt production technology, barley quality evaluation, specialty malts and extracts, malt biochemistry and analysis, food safety issues, and a biotechnology update on barley. |
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August 9, 2010 -- Four participants from Korea are attending the Exploring Whole Wheat Foods short course at NCI. The course runs from August 9-13. They are escorted by Woojoon Park, Ph.D., (back row, second from right), Senior Technical Marketing Specialist, U.S. Wheat Associates at the Seoul office. In addition to lectures, the team will spend time in the baking laboratory. They will also tour Dakota Specialty Milling, North Dakota Mill, and MGI Grain Processing. Guest speakers will include Robert Meyer, Director of Technical Services at Dakota Specialty Milling.
Link to Short Course Photos |
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August 5, 2010 -- Brian Sorenson, NCI Director, attended Buhler’s 150th Anniversary celebration in Plymouth, Minnesota. Kenichiro Takamatsu (right) is the current NCI Visiting Scholar, and is an employee of Nisshin Flour Milling Company, with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. Rene Steiner (left) is the President of Buhler’s North American Operations, and serves on NCI’s Northern Crops Council. Buhler is a leading manufacturer of grain milling, pasta and other food and feed processing equipment, as well as other industrial equipment. The company started as an iron foundry in 1860 in Uzwil, Switzerland, where its international headquarters are still located.
Link to their February celebration in Uzwil |
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August 3, 2010 - Yamazaki Baking Company and Sugiyama Shoji Company were hosted at Northern Crops Institute by Roman Meal Company and Dakota Specialty Milling, Inc., so that the Japanese customers could observe mill processing operations and meet some of their ingredient vendors. Dakota Specialty Milling, Inc., manufactures multigrain products for these companies on behalf of Roman Meal Co. The group was also able to visit a local area grain elevator and farm to observe the wheat harvesting and grain procurement processes. Each member of the team was able to ride in a combine while it was in operation, much to their delight. They also visited with NCI staff to learn about the NCI mission. |
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| July 28, 2010 -- NCI Director Brian Sorenson (right) and Processing Specialist Rilie Morgan (left) participate in Safety Harness Training in the NCI Swing Mill. The training was led by a Representative of Capital Safety, Red Wing, MN, and Bob Corwin, Olson Chain and Cable, Moorhead, MN. Also pictured are Tammy Aronson and Jolean Pederson from NDSU's Safety Office. |
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July 26, 2010 -- Five participants from Israel, Lebanon, and Turkey are at NCI to learn more about the impact of soy-fortification in baking. The Baking with Soy short course runs from July 26-30. The team of food engineers and bakers is sponsored by the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council (MSRPC) and the North Dakota Soybean Council (NDSC). Hikmet Boyacioglu, Ph.D., consultant for the ASA-IM, Turkey, (back row, second from right), is the team’s escort. The hands-on laboratory course is led by Mehmet Tulbek, Ph.D., NCI Technical Director. John Crabtree, NCI Assistant Director, coordinates the educational program.
Link to Short Course Photos
Link to News Release |
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July 13, 2010 -- Pasta manufacturers learned more about controlling the variables in making Italian-style pasta this week at Northern Crops Institute (NCI). They attended the Pasta: Raw Materials and Processing Technology Short Course from July 12-16. Ten participants were from large and small pasta companies in Guatemala, Japan, Phillippines, and U.S. Hands-on pasta processing and cooking quality evaluations supplement course lectures. Course faculty also demonstrate canned and fresh pasta processing.
Link to Short Course Photos |
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July 6-7, 2010 - Mehmet Tulbek, Ph.D., NCI Technical Director, traveled to Thailand to speak at the "New Innovative Vegetable Proteins with US Dry Bean Applications" seminar in Bangkok during July. Tulbek presented topics on the overview of U.S. dry bean quality, production, market, availability; nutritional benefits of US dry beans; U.S. dry edible bean flour as a new functional ingredient; introduction to extrusion technology and texturizing dry bean flour for food service applications. Tulbek also visited with milling, baking and snack food company officials in Bangkok. The program was sponsored by USDA and organized by the U.S. Dry Bean Council, ASEAN (Southeast Asia) Office. |
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| June 29, 2010 -- David Clough, a producer from Fessenden, N.D., was re-elected chair of the Northern Crops Council (NCC) at their reorganizational meeting on June 29, 2010. The NCC is the governing board of the Northern Crops Institute. Clough represents the North Dakota Wheat Commission. He was elected to his first term as NCC chair in November 2009, succeeding Dan Wiltse from Lisbon, N.D., after Wiltse’s death in a farm accident. Clough began his first three-year term on the NCC in 2007. Robert Majkrzak, Red River Commodities Inc., was re-elected NCC vice chair. Majkrzak fills a food processor seat on the Council. His first term on the NCC also began in 2007. |
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June 28, 2010--NCI's Industry Advisory Board met at Northern Crops Institute for their annual meeting. John McLean was re-elected as chair.
The IAB provides advice to NCI on educational programming and technical services. IAB draws its members from the agricultural supply and processing industry and the grain trade in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. IAB was established in 2002 with members who represent both large and small processors of northern-grown crops. |
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June 24, 2010 -- Alyssa Hicks is the new Milling Specialist at Northern Crops Institute (NCI), Fargo, N.D. Hicks began her duties at NCI on June 14. Hicks is a 2010 graduate of Kansas State University, Manhattan, where she earned a bachelor of science degree in Milling Science and Management. In 2009, she was a mill intern at Dakota Growers Pasta, Carrington, N.D. Hicks is a native of La Harpe, Kan. Hicks’ duties include providing expertise in flour milling for the wheats grown in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana. In addition to operating the NCI pilot-scale swing mill, she will teach in NCI short courses and provide technical expertise for the promotion of northern-grown wheat. |
Hicks
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| Link to complete news release |
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June 15, 2010 -- Fourteen participants from Brazil, Japan, Taiwan, and U.S. are learning more about how wheat type and quality affects the milling and baking processes as they attend the “Basics of Wheat and Flour Quality” Short Course. Five participants at the course are a delegation from Taiwan, who are sponsored by U.S. Wheat Associates. Mr. Ron Lu, Country Director for U.S. Wheat Associates Taiwan, is escorting the group. Faculty and guest speakers include Brian Sorenson, NCI Director; Mehmet Tulbek, Ph.D., NCI Technical Director; Rachel Brudvik, NCI Food Technologist; Thunyaporn Jeradechachai, NCI Crop Quality Specialist; Rilie Morgan, NCI Processing Specialist; Aytun Erdentug, Branscan Ltd.; Robert Meyer, Dakota Specialty Milling; and Jason Romberg, Lab Synergy.
Link to News Release
Link to Short Course Photos |
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June 14, 2010 -- A four-member Japanese millers team is at NCI to learn more about biotech wheat, quality comparisons of hard red spring (HRS) and durum wheat varieties, and wheat breeding efforts. Team members represent some of the largest flour mills in Japan. They are accompanied by Wataru "Charlie" Utsunomiya, (second row, right), director of U.S. Wheat Associates office in Tokyo. The team will meet with William Wilson, Ph.D., Frank Manthey, Ph.D., Senay Simsek, Ph.D. and Mohamed Mergoum, Ph.D., all NDSU. Erica Olson, (front left), North Dakota Wheat Commission, will provide an outlook on the 2010 HRS and durum crop. NCI Director Brian Sorenson (front right) will lead the team on a tour of NCI. The team will also tour Alton Grain Terminal. The Japanese market is the largest buyer of U.S. HRS wheat. |
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June 8-9, 2010 -- A customized short course on Legumes in Food Products was conducted at Northern Crops Institute for participants from Canada and India. Lecturers and participants discussed the use of peas, lentils, and chickpeas in food products, as well as food product development applications of baked and extruded products, nutritional aspects, labeling, process technologies and sensory evaluation. The group spent considerable hands-on time in NCI’s baking and processing laboratories. Faculty for the course were Mehmet Tulbek, Ph.D., NCI Technical Director; Thunyaporn Jeradechachai, NCI Crop Quality Specialist; Kevin McPhee, Ph.D., NDSU Pulse Breeder; and Clifford Hall, Ph.D., NDSU Dept of Cereal and Food Sciences.
Link to Short Course Photos |
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May 26, 2010 – A Feed Team from Vietnam visited Northern Crops Institute. Dr. Nguyen Van Dien of Bayer Animal Health escorted Nguyen Hong Dien and Dang Vu Thien Minh from Green Feeds. They came to discuss swine nutrition and production with Bob Thaler, Ph.D., SDSU, and to learn about the latest in feed manufacturing technology from Kim Koch, Ph.D., NCI’s Feed Center Manager. They also visited a Hutterite colony in South Dakota and the POET ethanol facility in Chancellor, S.D. Koch and Thaler have been in Vietnam several times providing educational programming in support of U.S. DDGS use in animal feeds. |
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May 10-14, 2010 -- Mehmet Tulbek, NCI Technical Director, traveled to Malaysia to speak at “Development of Healthy Instant Noodles with U.S. Pea Flour” Technical Seminar and Workshop in Kuala Lumpur during May. Tulbek also visited Interflour Milling Company Technical Center in Kuala Lumpur. The seminar was organized and sponsored by USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council. The objective of this program was to introduce pea flour as a functional ingredient in noodle products for the region and to provide technical information regarding the use of pea flour for end-use applications. |
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May 5, 2010 -- The Beta Agriculture and Seed Company Delegation, Turkey, visited Northern Crops Institute and learned about North Dakota agriculture, NCI educational, technical, crop quality and by-product utilization programs. The delegation was led by Mr. Yavuz Erence and hosted by Mehmet Tulbek, NCI Technical Director, and Dean Gorder, Executive Director, North Dakota Trade Office, during their visits at North Dakota Trade Office, NDSU and Northern Crops Institute. The delegation was in the area from May 3-7. |
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April 28, 2010 -- Flax and canola are featured at the “Functionality of Canola and Flaxseed in Food Systems” Short Course at Northern Crops Institute (NCI) that runs from April 27-29. Food processors from companies in Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, and North Dakota are attending the course. “Flaxseed and canola are both specialty oilseeds that are principally produced in North Dakota,” says Mehmet Tulbek, Ph.D., NCI Technical Director. “North Dakota raises about 93% of the total U.S. flax and canola crops. Therefore, it is important to our producers that we offer this course to promote the crops. The course will focus on bakery formulas where we use milled flax and canola together.”
Link to News Release
Link to Short Course Photos |
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April 13, 2010 -- Twenty pasta manufacturers from the USA are attending the Pasta Production and Technology Short Course at NCI April 13-15, 2010. Participants will learn about durum and semolina quality and how to turn it into the best quality pasta. During hands-on sessions in the pilot-scale processing laboratory, the course participants will apply what they learned in the lectures to the pasta manufacturing process, from extrusion to drying. Course participants will also tour the Philadelphia Macaroni Company, and the North Dakota State Mill, both in Grand Forks, N.D. Main speakers are NCI Director Brian Sorenson, NCI Technical Director Mehmet Tulbek, and Radwan Ibrahim, Vice President, Dakota Growers Pasta Company. John Crabtree coordinates the course.
Link to short course photos
Link to news release |
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March 2010 -- Mehmet Tulbek, NCI Technical Director, presented at the International Cereal Quality Control Workshops held in Istanbul and Ankara-Turkey in March. The objective of these workshops was to educate quality control technicians and managers working in the flour milling, pasta processing and baking industries. The participants were trained on wheat and flour quality tests, Mixolab equipment, test procedures, data interpretation, use of the Mixolab by millers, bakers and pasta processors, and evaluation of insect damage in wheat flour. Mixolab is a new flour testing equipment that has being used by flour milling industry since 2005. The workshops were sponsored by Chopin company, ABP Company, Istanbul Technical University Department of Food Engineering and Hacettepe University Department of Food Engineering. |
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March 25, 2010 -- Mehmet Tulbek, NCI Technical Director, (second row, second from right), attended the Pulse Health Initiative Workshop in Beltsville, Md., in April. The objective of the workshop was to develop a strategic plan for securing research funding to explore the many benefits of pulse crops. From the workshop discussions, a strategic plan will be developed by the scientists who attended the meeting, which was coordinated by the six facilitators: Jerry Combs, Mike Grusak, Jim Kelly, George Vandemark, Mehmet Tulbek and Jose Berrios. NDSU faculty Clifford Hall, Phil McClean, Kevin McPhee and Frayne Olson also attended the meeting. The workshop was sponsored by American Pulse Association. |
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March 9, 2010 -- NCI staff hosted a "Farewell Party" for the family of Kenji Motomatsu (right), who is the second scholar from Nisshin Flour Mills, Japan, who is studying for a year at NCI. Motomatsu will accompany his wife, Naoko, and their son, Hitoshi, home to Tokyo and then return to NCI for two more months.
"Nisshin scholars are at NCI to learn more about U.S. HRS wheat production and availability of their desired quality of wheat," says Brian Sorenson (left), NCI Director.
We've all enjoyed having the Motomatsu family with us for this year and wish them much success in the future.
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| February 16, 2010 -- Kim Koch, NCI Feed Center manager, (back row, far right), attended the U.S. Grain Council’s 7th International Marketing Conference in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in February. Importance of Free Trade was the theme at the conference. Without free trade agreements (FTAs) between the United States and markets in Latin America and Southeast Asia, the United States risks losing export competitiveness, warned U.S. Grains Council directors during the meeting. |
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February 11, 2010 - The NCI Technical Staff collaborated with Northern Pulse Growers Association's Marketing Director Kaye Effertz (left) to develop pea protein based recipes for egg replacement solutions. Crop Quality Specialist Thunyaporn Jeradechachai (right) and Food Technologist Rachel Brudvik (second from left) conducted the recipe development. The finishing touch was a professional photo shoot of pea protein fortified pasta and baked products that was conducted by John Borge (back center) of John Borge Studios and Shannon Charpentier (front center right) of Food for Market. |
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February 8-9, 2010 - NCI Technical Director Mehmet Tulbek (right) and NCI Crop Quality Specialist Thunyaporn Jeradechachai (second from left) conducted a hands-on educational program for South Dakota State University Wheat Quality Team. Julie Thomas (center) and David Karki (left) of SDSU Department of Plant Sciences learned about HRS wheat quality evaluation, flour testing methods and baking techniques (pan bread and tortillas) at NCI labs. NCI Food Technologist Rachel Brudvik (second from right) also attended the program. |
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February 8, 2010 - Mr. Guan Weikun,(center left), and his daughter Jackie, (left), visited Northern Crops Institute to learn more about U.S. dairy feed ingredients and technology that he can use on his farm in Guangdong Province in southern China. He has a 1,700 head dairy farm and is also Owner & General Manager of the Guangzhou Dairy Research Institute. He is Chairman of the Guangdong Dairy Industry Association. Jackie is a junior at NDSU, majoring in agribusiness. They were accompanied by Corey Kiefer (right) of China Global Group, Fargo. Kim Koch, Ph.D., NCI feed center manager, and John Crabtree, NCI assistant director, hosted the group. |
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| January 20, 2010 -- Kim Koch, Ph.D., NCI Feed Center manager, (left), Vern Anderson, Ph.D., NDSU Extension, and Bob Thaler, Ph.D., South Dakota State University, (right), led a DDGS assessment workshop for Bachoco nutritionists, plant managers and a quality control specialist in Mexico. The workshop was sponsored by U.S. Grains Council. The main objective of the training was to provide expertise on the use of DDGS, including its proper usage in poultry, swine, ruminants and aquaculture diets. The workshop also provided instructions on how to improve pellet quality when using DDGS in feed. Bachoco is a large feed manufacturer in Mexico. Koch has worked with Bachoco’s Minatitlan plant in previous years, helping them improve pellet quality. |
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January 18, 2010 -- Mehmet Tulbek, NCI Technical Director, traveled to Thailand to speak at a technical seminar in Bangkok during January. Tulbek also visited milling, baking and snack food companies in Bangkok. The seminars were organized by United States Dry Bean Council. The objective of this program was to provide market access for edible beans in the region, provide technical information on the use of bean flours in direct expanded snacks, breakfast cereals, fried snacks; and to educate industry officials on edible bean flour end-use applications. |
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January 13, 2010 -- NCI Technical Director Mehmet Tulbek (right) and NCI Crop Quality Specialist Thunyaporn (Naggie) Jeradechachai (left) attended Annual National Sunflower Research Forum in Fargo, N.D., January 13-14, 2010. They presented a poster on the use of confection sunflower products in traditional Mediterranean baked goods. The objective of the research is to overview the potential of replacing sesame seed and tahini with confection sunflower products in traditional baked goods of Eastern Mediterranean, such as tahini bread, tahini cookies, hummus and thin sheeted doughs. Funding for this project was provided by National Sunflower Association. |
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