01/08/08 Wheat Marketing Center educates elevator operators

Farm and Ranch January 8, 2008 Grower groups frequently tour the Wheat Marketing Center in Portland, Oregon to learn about the activities being conducted there to help U.S. wheat exports. In fact a group of producers from Washington recently visited. Gary Shelton the Director of the Wheat Marketing Center says in 2005 a course was developed for elevator operators too and it's really taken off. Shelton: "We've got not only PNW states involved but also Montana, Nebraska, and some of those states from the plains. But what it is, is a two-day course, which was exciting for us to develop because we went out on site to talk with about six different elevator operators to see what they wanted. They wanted to see what we do with our testing, visit an export facility, talk to FGIS. Then we also include some topics on the Port of Portland, the transportation system of the PNW and then John Oades of U.S. Wheat Associates comes in and ties all the pieces together." Shelton says three to four months after the course the elevator operators are interviewed at their place of businesses. Shelton: "See if we have changed anything they do and if there are any impacts we can have. That allows us to change our course, make it relevant and also see if this is what we should be doing." Shelton says the one machine at the Wheat Marketing Center that is most intriguing to elevator operators is the falling numbers device. He says the operators know about falling numbers and have occasionally been dinged for potential sprout, and they finally get to see how that is measured. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.