World Grain - March 2022 - 30

SPEAKING IN TONGUES
When Morton Sosland introduced World Grain's inaugural
issue, he called attention to plans to offer some
editorial content in Spanish. That year, the magazine
provided several technical articles and news items in
Spanish translation. This practice continued for several
years, culminating in an all-Spanish language edition appearing
in 1999 and every year since. A Chinese-language
edition was added in 1985 and, most recently, a
Russian edition.
" The foreign language editions of World Grain have
continued because our advertisers believe, as we do,
that this is a strong enough market to support its own
language publication, " Charles Sosland explained. " It
gives us a springboard to other foreign language publications
in those countries and others. "
The magazine's relationships with correspondents in
these regions continues to be essential. For example,
a grain science professor in China who possessed an
entrepreneurial character was the key to the Chinese
edition, Charles Sosland said. And there were also several
well-established equipment manufacturers active in
China who offered advertising support.
Although English is the common technical language
for most of the world, World Grain recognized that
some regions did not share the same fluency.
" The size of those markets justified advertisers' requests
for ads to be provided in those languages, "
Charles Sosland said. " I've been asked about publishing
similar editions for the Middle East, but we don't yet
have opportunities in that region, nor is there a common
language we could use. "
the beginning, profile government policies concerning
agriculture and detail the agribusiness conditions
in countries on every continent except Antarctica. All
told, the series has taken readers around the world several
times.
" There are several dozen countries that qualify as
major players in the industries we cover, and we try
to feature them every few years on a rotating basis, "
Donley said. " Others, such as China, Brazil, the US
and Canada, are updated more frequently because their
ag industries are so large and dynamic.
" We do get occasional input from our advertisers who
inform us about countries seeing the most growth in
terms of added grain storage and processing capacity. It
has always been one of our most popular features, and
we are careful during our selection process to make sure
all parts of the globe are represented in a given year. "
The magazine regularly covers new technologies, a
focus established during Neil Sosland's editorial management.
Its coverage of pneumatic conveying, color
sorters and double-roll roller mills gave many international
readers their first glimpse of these state-of-the30
art
systems. The potential for " lights out " milling was
reported in 1992.
Ethanol received front cover attention from World
Grain. In 1988, the magazine reported a Swedish pilot
project for making fuel ethanol from cereal grains.
During ethanol's boom years, 2003-08, World Grain
took readers to visit many ethanol production facilities,
described its manufacturing technology and cautioned
about diversion of grains from food and feed into fuel.
Although ethanol has waned considerably, it's still an
active subject for the magazine.
Today's hot topics
The interests of World Grain's audience in the grain
storage, handling and trade arenas, as well as those
active in flour milling and feed manufacturing, share
common themes.
" Product safety has become hugely important, "
Donley observed. " Personal safety, whether it's preventing
grain dust explosions or grain entrapment or
keeping employees out of harm's way in processing
plants, is also an issue that drives our coverage, as is
sustainability.
" These industries are also dealing with increasing
amounts of government regulation, which can significantly
impact these tight-margin businesses. "
One emerging trend is blockchain technology and
the impact that will have on everything from grain trading
to how flour and feed mills operate.
" New technology is always at the forefront of World
Grain's coverage because it can revolutionize how grain
is stored, processed and transported, " Donley said.
Climate change has been a significant editorial subject
for World Grain since the 1990s. Articles detail its
implications for agriculture generally and cereal grains
specifically. The topic is frequently the featured subject
of the magazine's front covers.
" As the weather gets hotter and more extreme, it is
having a dramatic impact on crop production, " Donley
said. " In recent years, many countries, most notably
Australia, have seen crop output significantly reduced due
to drought. The changing climate is moving more grain
production north in places such as Canada and Siberia.
They are now growing soybeans, which would have been
an unthinkable development just a few years ago.
" While production of those crops expand into those
areas, the concern is that places like Australia and the
Southern Plains in the US, which already had a warm,
dry climate prior to the recent extreme climatic developments,
will have difficulty growing crops in the near
future. With the global population projected to increase
to nearly 10 billion by 2050, the world simply cannot
afford to have grain production curtailed because of climate
issues. "
March 2022 / World Grain / World-Grain.com
http://www.World-Grain.com
World Grain - March 2022

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