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Identity Preserved
Trade
- Specialty grain is grain with desirable
special characteristics compared to "commodity"
grain. For instance, corn with high oil or
lysine content, organic grain, and non-GM
grain are all grains with special characteristics.
- As customers want more specialty grain,
the need to preserve the identity of the grain
with special characteristics rises.
- IP grain is moved in containers and sometimes
by bulk. The containers can be lined with
a liner that avoids contamination from a previous
grain load. Specialty grain is also bagged
in smaller bags and then put in a container
that will be sealed.
- Keeping bins, dumps and pits, augers,
and other grain handling equipment clean is
the biggest challenge in ensuring the identity
of the customer's grain.
- Flushing the grain handling system with
some incoming grain removes most of the remnant
grain. ARS engineer Mark Casada, Ph.D. recently
finished a study ("Handling-system
changes can reduce grain mixing") to determine
how much incoming grain is needed to flush
the system.
- IP trade is more laborious but the potential
increased price that farmers receive from
the IP grain offsets these costs.
- More information and a cost analysis
on IP grain is in a report "Identity Preserved Grain- Logistical
Overview"
by Reichert and Vachal, published in 2000.
- Vachal,
VanWechel, and Reichert (2003) also performed
an interesting study on "U.S.
Containerized Grain & Oilseed Exporters--Industry
Profile and Survey".
- A study by Cole Gustafson at North Dakota
State University (2002): "Economics of Producing
for an Identity-Preserved (IP) Grain Market"
has a cost analysis on IP production.
- Of course, the Transportation
& Marketing page on the USDA web site
has a wealth of information.
- Recently, an interesting new book came out
by Marc Levinson on the history and economics
of container shipping. The title of the book:
The box: How the shipping container made
the world smaller and the world economy bigger
(Princeton University Press, CopyRight 2006).
- At BioProfile Testing Labs, LLC, we are happy to help with your questions on IP logistics and
solutions. In fact, most of our customers
use some form of IP shipping.
Logo and
Contents CopyRight BioProfile Testing Laboratories,
2001-2008.
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