Mexican Sorghum Importers Receive Feed Manufacturing Training, Tour U.S. Facilities

As sorghum month comes to a close, a group of Mexican sorghum users and importers traveled to Kansas with the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) to learn more about the grain’s use as a feed ingredient and to see its quality firsthand.

The team was comprised of 10 representatives from the feed milling sector in Jalisco, Mexico, including swine, poultry and livestock producers, feed millers, plant managers, supervisors and merchandisers. They spent three days in a feed manufacturing course following tours of a feed mill and elevator.

The course, conducted by the International Grains Program at Kansas State University (IGP-KSU) aimed to educate participants on sorghum in feed manufacturing and incorporate the knowledge learned in their respective operations to reassess the commodity in their formulas. The training covered topics including grain storage, pest control, feed and ingredient handling and molds and mycotoxins among others.

“Some of the participants in this group are managers of companies that have been in the market for years but had not had the opportunity to receive training of this nature before, which gave them the opportunity to analyze each of the phases in the feed milling process, starting with the reception of ingredients, their process, quality control of both ingredients and finished feed, storage, mycotoxin evaluation and more,” said Patricia Esqueda, USGC marketing specialist in Mexico.

“This, in addition to having the opportunity to exchange information with colleagues from the same environment, constituted a very enriching experience for all.”

The Council has supported young company decisionmakers in acquiring knowledge in different topics involved with feed processing, grain procurement, logistics, storage management and grain quality over the years and will continue to do so.

“These young entrepreneurs are open to new ideas and technologies that they can adapt and apply to their respective companies, and what they learned in this course gave them ideas to put into practice,” Esqueda said.

“Some of these entrepreneurs are starting to produce pet food, so the process of extrusion represented a very good experience for them. Also, learning that sorghum can be an excellent ingredient in the production of pet food generated interest among them.”