Thirty-five grain buyers from 20 nations attending the 2010 Grain Procurement Management for Importers short course at Northern Crops Institute (NCI) from Sept. 20-29 to learn how to make more effective purchases in the U.S. grain marketing system.

Attending the course are buyers from Belgium, China, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Libya, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Philippines, Portugal, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, South Korea, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and U.S. They represent large and small flourmills, food manufacturers and trading companies that import and trade Hard Red Spring Wheat, durum wheat, corn, soybeans, barley and other commodities.

John Crabtree, NCI assistant director, is the coordinator and William Wilson, professor of agribusiness and applied economics, is the lead lecturer for the course.

The institute supports regional agriculture and value-added processing by conducting technical education and services that expand and maintain domestic and international markets for northern-grown crops.