World Grain - May 2012 - 70

FEATURE: GLOBAL CENTER UNITES GRAIN EXPERTS

Maier

Hurburgh

by GEAPS, it was decided a center might be one way to bring the expertise together. With an aging workforce, new people entering the workforce with little agriculture background, and the rising challenges of technology and climate problems, there is a growing need for the ICGOP, Hurburgh said. “It’s obvious the industry needs to support its own training and research and development center. We can’t look to the government to provide the levels of public money that it has in the past,” he said. “All of those things together led to the idea that we could expand what is already there in the GEAPS distance education program.” Along with KSU, ISU and GEAPS, the other groups working to establish the center include the Kansas Grain and Feed Association and the Agribusiness Association of Iowa. The founding members have created a board and are in the process of incorporating the ICGOP in Kansas. “Once it’s incorporated, the next step will be to reactivate discussions with other entities and see to what extent they want to join,” Maier said. “We’ll create a more permanent board and grow membership.” Board members will include representatives from stakeholder groups, KSU’s grain science department head, and the center’s director. The board’s duties will include directing and overseeing fundraising and endowment fund management; reviewing and approving budgets; reviewing and evaluating center objectives, activities and operation; and developing an annual report that includes a program plan and budget, results and expenditures.
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While the ICGOP is envisioned as a virtual center, it’s expected KSU will be the lead institution and will be the physical location for the director’s ofﬁce. Any ICGOP administrative support can be integrated with the existing grain science department. KSU is an ideal location, according to the ICGOP website, because it is in the middle of the U.S., has a wide variety of on-campus and distance education courses that will likely be incorporated into the center, and has hands-on learning opportunities. “We expect to have an operating contract with KSU for three to ﬁve years,” Maier said. “That would always be under review by the board of directors of the center. I like the idea that it holds us accountable.” The founding organizations have made some initial fund commitments and in kind contributions, Maier said. Additional funding is expected to come from a dedicated endowment, KSU appropriated funds from existing programs, private and public grants, contract funding, program revenue and service income. It’s expected operating costs will be $1 million per year. “Once we have the concept of the center more deﬁned, we will have a fundraising campaign,” Maier said. The ﬁrst phase of the campaign will include organizing and conducting prefundraising marketing efforts to introduce the center to potential major donors. In the second phase, the focus will be on raising $5 million in one year, and $20 million within ﬁve years. EDUCATION, RESEARCH OFFERINGS Organizers said the ICGOP will offer a wide range of programs including distance education course for handling, processing and related industry employee training; intensive hands-on training at multiple locations; credentialing to mark successful completion and encourage ongoing education; augmentation for on-campus programs; and applied research/problem solving for grain supply chain issues.

Eventually, it will encompass many of the programs already being offered by GEAPS and KSU, such as the distance education program. The ICGOP could also serve as the accredited body for reviewing the purposed grain credentialing program, Maier said, which also builds on the distance education program. The credentialing program would take a tiered approach, where participants earn credentials based on courses they complete. Once a participant has completed the grain-operations management credential, they will have the opportunity to earn additional credentials in specialty areas. Eventually, a master’s level credential will be available. “Somebody is going to have to review the credentialing to make sure the programs are being adhered to,” he said. In the research area, Hurburgh said they would like the center to act as a thought leader. ISU will be a second operating point for the ICGOP, focusing on the applied research effort. “Since the membership will be representative of the industry, we would like to identify some common themes or challenges that need to be addressed in an industry-wide fashion,” Maier said. Some topics that could be addressed include management of large volume grain storage; monitoring and IT technologies; response to food safety concerns; standard operating practices; trace compounds; product evaluations; climate change/quality in processing; climate change, production shifts; regulatory policy impacts; whole supply chain challenges; environmental impact, carbon tracking; and science-based input to policy making. “All of these things affect the grain supply chain front to back,” Hurburgh said. “These are large forces that have an immediate impact on this industry. That’s what this center is all about; responding to those forces in a large format, scientiﬁc way.”
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May 2012 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

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World Grain - May 2012

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