I-LEAD Class Reports from China - Day 4

Posted on December 13, 2013 at 11:05 AM by Iowa Corn

Sino Grain Visit

The I-LEAD class 6 had another busy day on Thursday, December 12. The day started with a visit to New Hope feed mill in Shijiazhuang, Hebei. This facility was built in 1995 and recently underwent an expansion and upgrade. Feed leaves this mill in small bags to be sold by dealers to farmers. U.S. Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles (DDGS) is distributed at the mill come to port in containers and then bagged.

Next, the class visited a hog farm in Shijiazhuang. Although the tour was limited, we were able to observe the facility via closed circuit tv.

Unloading corn at the U.S. port.

The next stop was perhaps the most unique of the trip to date as we toured a home in the village near the hog farm. Here we saw first hand the storage and drying of corn on residential roofs.

The last activity was a high speed train ride to Guangzhou. The train reached speeds of 180 mph. We have had a very busy 4 days with more to come.

Mark Kenney is a farmer from Nevada, Iowa. He raises corn, soybeans, and seed corn with his father and brother-in-law. He has a passion for agriculture and jumps at the chance to share his story with others. He also feels it is equally important to learn from others. He has been a leader in different commodity and agriculture groups including Iowa Corn, the Iowa Farm Bureau, Pioneer’s Next Generation Farmer Program, and the Heart of Iowa Coop Board.

Tagged As: Mark Kenney, DDGS, Hebei, Shijiazhuang