World Grain - May 2023 - 32

A 30-year
industry veteran,
Anthony Ewing,
left, is associate
director and
operations
manager for the
facility and Dirk
Maier, right, is
director of the
complex and
professor of
grain and feed
operations and
processing
at ISU.
goes to the workers and the workmanship of the companies
that have been involved. "
Several major donors joined in the $32+ million
project early on including Kent Corp., Muscatine,
Iowa, US, with $8 million; the Iowa Corn Promotion
Board with $4 million; and Sukup Manufacturing,
Sheffield, Iowa, US, with $3 million. Other major donors
included California Pellet Mill (CPM), Waterloo,
Iowa, US, which provided $2.6 million in equipment,
automation and services and Todd & Sargent, based in
Ames, which served as general contractor.
Along with hands-on training and developing new
workers for the feed and grain industry, the complex
will offer training and research opportunities for both
industries. The 47,000-square-foot complex includes
a warehouse and educational building with a 50-person
classroom, analytical laboratory and pilot plant; a
100-foot-tall concrete milling tower and 40-foot-tall
pelleting plant; and 220,000 bushels of steel grain storage
with handling and drying systems.
Feed production, which will include commercial feed
as well as feed for ISU's Research and Demonstration
Farms, will start this summer. The grain portion of the
complex will be ready for harvest this fall, Maier said.
" We're open for business, " he said. " Whether it has to
do with research capabilities, diet preparation or more,
call us. The facility is available to utilize, to do training
here, to partner with. Also, partner with us in helping
attract, recruit and prepare the talent that the industry is
interested in. This facility is not so much about making
feed; it's about preparing students for the industry. "
Future workforce
When Maier came to ISU in 2015, while the College of
Agriculture was investigating plans for its feed facilities,
he was interested in building a program, not just
a mill. Part of the program was the addition of a minor
32
The feed mill has parallel conditioning systems, including
a conditioner with a retentioner that can hold feed
at temperature for a longer time and bypass the pellet
mill to produce heat treated mash.
in feed technology, introduced in 2019, which includes
specialized classes that will utilize the new complex.
The feed technology minor can be added onto multiple
degrees programs from the College of Agriculture, such as
animal science, ag technology or ag education. Currently,
there are 16 students enrolled in the minor, a number that
Maier expects will grow once the facility is operational.
" They'll get exposed to the industry earlier and we
can build a stream with regard to internships, " he said.
Even before opening, the facility has been used by
engineering and project management classes, Ewing
said. Grain preservation and ag engineering classes
also will utilize it for labs on grain drying, handling,
processing and more.
" One of the key challenges is to help faculty understand
the capabilities and possibilities and set it up in
such a way that it's easy for them to bring their classes, "
Maier said.
The facility will be almost completely run by students,
Ewing said, who will learn not just the technical
aspects of feed mill operation but other skills that usually
don't come until the first year on the job.
" From the industry standpoint, they can skip over that
first year, if they've been in this facility, " Ewing said.
" That's pretty big for a company to say all we have to
do is introduce you to our culture and you're job ready. "
Maier envisions opening the facility in some way to
community college students. During COVID, the university
learned how to make learning accessible. Maier
has taught classes that included 15 students in person
and another 14 online in real-time in Africa and Europe.
" You could include community colleges in that, " he
May 2023 / World Grain / World-Grain.com
http://www.World-Grain.com
World Grain - May 2023

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