Registrations Open for Grain-grading Workshops Aug. 1, Aug. 2 in Amarillo

By Kay Ledbetter

Two one-day grain-grading workshops on Aug. 1 and Aug. 2 in Amarillo are open for registration. The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will host the workshops.

Check-in will begin at 8:30 a.m., with the program following from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, 6500 W. Amarillo Blvd.

Registration is open to anyone interested in grain grading. The deadline is July 28, and the cost is $100 per participant, which includes lunch. Pre-registration is required, with seating limited to 55 people per day. Register and pay for a workshop at https://tx.ag/2023GrainGradingRegistration.

The classes typically fill up quickly, said DeDe Jones, AgriLife Extension risk management program specialist in the Texas A&M Department of Agricultural Economics, Amarillo. She advises those interested in attending not to wait to register.

Gaining hands-on knowledge in grain grading

Jones said the workshop is designed for corn, sorghum and wheat grain handlers and producers to help them recognize features that affect grade.

Participants will learn about the importance of grading grain, grain quality and the feedlot industry, and grain grading standards and expected changes. There will also be hands-on grading where they will learn proper sampling techniques, how to identify the different types of damage that occur and their potential impacts on grade, she said.

Feedlot employees can receive Beef Quality Assurance credit.

Course instructors in addition to Jones will be Robert Waller and Jorge Vasquez, both with the Federal Grain Inspection Service, Wichita, Kansas; Mark Welch, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension economist-grain marketing and policy in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Bryan-College Station; and Jourdan Bell, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension agronomist in the Texas A&M Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Amarillo.

The grain-grading workshops are co-sponsored by Texas Cattle Feeders Association, Texas Wheat, National Sorghum Producers, Attebury Grain and AgriLife Extension.