The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) has begun collecting official samples of soybeans as part of its ongoing assessment of the quality of U.S. soybean exports.
The sampling at both export elevators and interior elevators is scheduled to occur from Sept. 1 through Jan. 31.
Four Federal Grain Inspection Service field offices at export ports are to collect a total of 366 samples, interspersed by month based upon the historic volume of monthly soybean exports. Of those four FGIS field offices, New Orleans, La., is to collect 248 samples, Olympia, Wash., is to collect 98 samples, Toledo, Ohio, is to collect 17 and League City, Texas, is to collect three. Meanwhile, 11 FGIS field offices in the interior are to collect a total of 34 samples over the next five months, a sample size indicative of the approximately 10 percent of U.S. soybean exports shipped from interior service points and graded by official agencies. For interior locations, the samples may be collected from any mode of export shipment (container, barge, rail or truck). All of the collected samples will receive a detailed analysis for quality characteristics and foreign material, including moisture, oil and protein content, splits, test weight, soybeans of other colors and the resulting grade, as well as pesticide residues.
As part of its soybean export assessment, GIPSA also is continuing its collection of soybean samples at country elevators to determine the quality, foreign material and pesticide residue characteristics of farmgate soybeans. The sampling, which is scheduled to continue through 2011, began in 2007 with the collection of 1,112 soybean samples from 27 states. The agency intends to compare and contrast the quality, foreign material and pesticide residue findings of soybeans at the farmgate versus export point as the study unfolds. Click on the hyperlinks provided in the text of this sentence to access copies of the separate GIPSA program notices sent to its field offices describing the sampling program at export and interior locations.