By Cheryl Anderson
DTN Staff Reporter
OMAHA (DTN) -- To ensure its services meet market needs, the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration is requesting public comments, according to a notice published in the Federal Register on Tuesday.
In the notice, GIPSA asked how it can best facilitate the marketing of grains, oilseeds, rice pulses and related products, including distillers grains. Comments are requested as to the relevance of current standards, methods and grading practices, as well as on potential market needs for new standards or services.
GIPSA is the USDA agency that establishes standards for grains, oilseeds, rice pulses and related commodities in terms of kind, class, quality and condition. The division also defines commonly used industry terms and basic principles which govern the application of standards such as the type of sample used for a particular quality analysis, as well as specifying grades and grade requirements. These grade standards and inspection procedures allow buyers and sellers to communicate quality requirements, compare quality and assist in price discovery.
2007 REQUEST FOR PUBLIC COMMENTS
GIPSA periodically reviews standards to ensure they reflect marketplace needs. In 2007 it published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) seeking comments from the ethanol industry asking if GIPSA should offer any additional services to facilitate the marketing of ethanol co-products.
An official from the Federal Grain Inspection Service at GIPSA told DTN that when GIPSA ran the original ANPR a few years ago, the DDG industry was just getting off the ground.
At that time, the variability in DDG color alone was pretty striking -- an indication there were no real standards for color, as well as an indication of the moisture content.
The ANPR asked for comments on whether GIPSA should set standards for DDG products or standardize the test used to determine DDG characteristics.
GIPSA received a three-part reply. First, an overwhelming majority of responders felt GIPSA should not intervene in standardizing testing of ethanol inputs and outputs, and that industry participants were capable of standardizing DDG if that was the industry's decision. Part two indicated that GIPSA sought too much information and should instead prioritize requests. Lastly, Part 3 was that GIPSA should continue to approve rapid test kits for mycotoxins, making sure that only the best kits were approved by GIPSA. That has been GIPSA's focus for some time, the GIPSA official said.
The production of distillers grains in the U.S. has continued to grow along with ethanol production, increasing from 12.4 million metric tons of DDG in the 2006-07 crop year to an estimated 44.6 mmt in 2014-15.
In addition, the number and variety of co-products generated by ethanol plants have grown, as new fractionated products are being developed, such as high-protein DDG and reduced-fiber DDG.
"Since then, the industry has grown in leaps and bounds. We feel it is prudent to once again ask the industry if GIPSA can facilitate the marketing of DDG," the GIPSA official said.
COMMENT INFORMATION
GIPSA invites all comments, ideas and recommendations, but encourages comments specifically on the three following issues:
1. Are there any market-identified quality attributes that GIPSA does not currently describe (or provide testing) that would facilitate the marketing of grain, oilseeds, and related products?
2. What role should GIPSA take, if any, in standardizing the testing of inputs and outputs of ethanol co-product processing? Has anything changed in the marketing of ethanol and ethanol co-products since GIPSA's last ANPR in 2007 related to standardization, product description, or quality assessment?
3. Are there any other services that GIPSA could offer to facilitate the marketing of grain, oilseeds, or related products?
Specifically, GIPSA is soliciting comments from producers, handlers, processors, food manufacturers, exporters, importers, consumers, scientists, academicians, industry stakeholders, and other interested persons.
Comments must be received by GIPSA on or before April 18, 2016, and may be submitted in three ways:
1. By mail to: R. Dexter Thomas, GIPSA, USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue SW., Room 2530, Washington, DC 20250-3604.
2. By fax to: (202) 690-2173.
3. By Internet: at http://www.regulations.gov/… and follow the on-line instruction for submitting comments.
All comments should be identified as "U.S. Services Offered for Grains Notice Comments."
GIPSA stated that all comments will become a matter of public record, including name, address or any other personal identifying information voluntarily submitted.
All comments received will be posted to www.regulations.gov without change, and may also be viewed in the GIPSA office during regular business hours, however, an appointment with GIPSA is necessary by calling (202) 720-6529.
For further information on submitting comments, contact Anthony Goodeman at GIPSA, USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC, 20250; Telephone (202)-720-0228; Fax Number (202) 720-1015; email Anthony.T.Goodeman@usda.gov.
Cheryl Anderson can be reached at cheryl.anderson@dtn.com.
(CZ/AG)
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