Council, Northern Crops Institute Partner For Grain Procurement Training Program

This week, the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) sponsored a group of Moroccan grain purchasers on a procurement management course at the Northern Crops Institute, a Council partner based at North Dakota State University (NDSU) in Fargo, ND.

“The Council continues to grow its operations in Africa through investments in equipment and training, and it’s also extremely important to extend that training to importers so they are prepared to source and purchase ever-increasing amounts of feed grains to meet their domestic needs,” said Mohamed Salah Bouthour, USGC deputy regional director for Africa.

The course began with several days of presentations from NDSU professors on a range of topics including grain futures markets; financial strategies and principles; tools to predict weather patterns; inventory management; U.S. transport logistics and much more. The team also participated in several hands-on exercises that simulated real purchasing and trading scenarios so attendees can immediately apply what they learned.

Outside the classroom, the agenda featured visits along the U.S. agricultural value chain for team members to better understand how commodities move across the world and see the scale of U.S. operations.

The group visited a feed mill and a shuttle train loading facility in North Dakota and Council member CHS, Inc. for a tour of its export terminal before continuing to Minnesota for the remainder of the program.

Participants visited the Duluth, MN Seaway Port to learn about the facility and the cargo it handles and stopped at Council member Hansen-Mueller’s grain terminal elevator.

The program concluded with meetings with Council members Cargill and ADM, where attendees developed skills in international contract negotiations and met with traders that shared their personal experiences and offered insights into the global grain market.

“Africa has incredible market potential and the Council has been diligently laying the groundwork for U.S. agriculture to capitalize on that opportunity,” Bouthour said. “Diversifying programming in the region to include procurement trainings and buyers’ and sellers’ conferences has been a major boost to the Council’s goals over the past several years and we look forward to continuing to directly connect with important stakeholders as we have with this group.”

Learn more about the Council’s work in Africa here.