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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

+ + + + +

GRAIN INSPECTION ADVISORY COMMITTEE

+ + + + +

THURSDAY

JUNE 23, 2022

+ + + + +

The meeting convened at the National 

Grain Center, 10383 North Ambassador Drive, 

Kansas City, Missouri at 8:30 a.m., Matthew 

Kerrigan, Chairman, presiding.

GIAC MEMBERS PRESENT: 

MATTHEW KERRIGAN, Chair

JANICE COOPER, Vice Chair

CHRISTOPHER FREDERKING

DAVID AYERS

CHARLES BIRD

CURT ENGEL

NICHOLAS FRIANT, Secretary

PHILIP GARCIA

BARBARA GROVE

RYAN KUHL

JOHN MORGAN

KURT ROSENTRATER*

ROBERT SINNER

JIMMY WILLIAMS
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ALSO PRESENT: 

MELISSA BAILEY, Associate Administrator, AMS

ANTHONY GOODEMAN, FMD Director

ED JHEE, TSD Director

ARTHUR NEAL, Deputy Administrator, FGIS

TIM NORDEN, Chief Scientist

BYRON REILLY, IAD Director

DENISE RUGGLES, Executive Program Analyst

KARLA WHALEN, QACD Director

*participating virtually
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CONTENTS

Call to Order ................................. 4

Public Comments ............................... 4

Discuss Recommendations ....................... 4

Finalize Recommendations ..................... 52

Officer Elections ............................ 62

Discuss Agenda Items for Next Meeting ........ 64

Closing Remarks .............................. 66

Adjourn
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P R O C E E D I N G S

8:30 a.m.

MR. KERRIGAN: So it's just after 8:30 

here, we'd like to go ahead and get started. I 

would like to recall this meeting to order after 

our adjournment yesterday.

We're going to go right into public 

comment here. We had one late yesterday advising 

there was a question late in the day regarding 

combining comments with the National Grain and 

Feed Association, and that comment was that they 

are working with the AG Transportation Working 

Group, you know, with those comments to the STB, 

to the Secretary and such. So I don't think 

there's any change other than I wanted to 

recognize that public comment.

Kendra, was there anything else that 

came through last night or this morning? 

MS. KLINE: No.

MR. KERRIGAN: Okay, so with that, 

we're going to jump back in. Right before we get 
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to the recommendations, I want to make sure that 

if there is a need, this is an opportunity to 

discuss any industry issues further. We know we 

left yesterday a little bit hanging regarding 

soybeans of other colors. Sorry, I don't know 

if there's any more discussion that needs to 

happen on that, from either anybody on the 

committee or FGIS.

All right, I think we'll be able to 

pull some of that data that was asked about later 

in the day, if we could see that real quick?

MR. CAPPER: Good morning. So about 

this data set that we're going to look at, as 

part of the official inspection process, we 

require the official agencies and the Federal 

Field Offices to send us what's called a summary 

inspection record, and it's sent for every 

certificate that's issued. It's approximately 

equivalent to the certificate, it is not exactly 

the certificate. But every factor result that's 

present on that certificate is also sent 
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uniquely, and so they capture all that data in 

what we call an inspection data warehouse. That 

information is available to the customers 

immediately upon receipt, who are the customers 

of those agencies. So we store some of this 

data, but we do not generally publically release 

this data in any form. We don't generally 

aggregate it or analyze it unless there's 

specific requests, and at this request on SBOC, 

we have undertaken some analysis, you know, in 

this direction.

So several pieces of information I'm 

going to show you this morning. We're just going 

to get some terms that you're going to see on 

these following slides together. The column for 

total certificates, so this is the total number 

of official inspection, summary inspection 

records that we received in the inspection data 

warehouse where the factor SBOC was recorded, 

that would include a report of zero.

We have a column for percent of No. 1 
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SBOC, and this is the number of certificates 

where the SBOC result itself met the grade 

criteria for U.S. No. 1, and that's to be distinct 

from a certificate that would be Grading No. 1 or 

No. 2 or No. 3. And so you might have an SBOC 

result that met the criteria for No. 1 on the 

U.S. No. 3 grade cert, and so this column 

represents the SBOC results only, it does not 

take into account the grade that was actually 

applied to the certificate.

And then we have similar columns for 

No. 2 and for No. 3, and then kind of for clarity 

and without getting into too much detail, we 

aggregated all of the data, all the percentages 

for those that were not U.S. No. 1 into a column, 

and so that's our column for percent exceeds No. 

1.

We also tracked what the average SBOC 

result has been across all the data that's been 

reported. And finally an actual count of those 

certificates, those summary inspection records 
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where the result for SBOC exceeded the grade for 

U.S. No. 1. I think you'll find it's pretty 

enlightening.

So this is the data that we have since 

2011 as it relates to summary inspection records 

with the factor SBOC reported. Do I have a 

clicker or anything, a pointer?

Okay, so as you look down, the certs 

exceeding No. 1, the final column, you'll start 

to see numbers that start to jump off the page as 

we get down into '21 and '22. As you look at the 

percent No. 1 SBOC, you'll see that we drop from 

99 percent, pretty much throughout the previous 

10 year period, to 92 percent last year, and 75 

percent then so far this year.

And again, just for context, a summary 

inspection record represents a certificate. So 

that might be one rail car, it might be 20 

containers, it might be a soybean shipment, and 

so the volume of grain behind each of these 

results does vary.
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MR. FRIANT: Quick question on that. 

For vessel shipments, would that be the --

MR. CAPPER: This is the certificate 

--

MR. FRIANT: Not sublot?

MR. CAPPER: Not sublot, yes.

And so just kind of graphically, well, 

so before I get there. So the average SBOC 

result, which you'll see in the second to the 

last column, you know, on average, .03, .02 for 

the previous 10 year period, and then in '21, 

almost a quarter of a percent, and then so far 

this year, three quarters of a percent. And so 

graphically, you know, that's what we're seeing. 

Similarly, the percent of certificates where SBOC 

was certified, again, visually, you know, pretty 

interesting story.

And so just kind of look more closely 

then at the last 12 months, we can see, again, 

the same data set that in August, you know, we 

were still running about normal. In September 
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we had a hint of it, and if we look at the average 

SBOC column, we've been trending up at about a 

point one percent average SBOC by month.

MR. SINNER: Are we to assume this is 

all the smoky grey seed coat?

MR. CAPPER: It's SBOC.

MR. SINNER: Okay.

MR. CAPPER: Right, I mean, it's SBOC.

MR. SINNER: Yeah.

MR. CAPPER: And so I guess by way of 

kind of awareness, when you place a request for 

soybean inspection, you can request as an 

official criteria the actual colors to be 

reported. Now, we do not find that most do that, 

and so we do not collect the data or ask for the 

analysis of brown or black of our inspectors, 

unless it's specifically requested by the 

applicant. But, you know, that is an available 

service to the customer to identify the color as 

part of the inspection process. And so this is 

as of, so June is as of yesterday.
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MR. NEAL: Hey Lee, just anecdotally, 

Bob, based on what we're hearing from official 

agencies and from the field, that's what they're 

seeing.

MR. ENGEL: Is this spreading 

geographically? I mean, is it, can you try, I'm 

looking at this and I want to know what the 

distribution of where it started and what it 

looks like today.

MR. CAPPER: We've undertaken an 

analysis geographically, we do, you know, collect 

where it is sourced from. We also collect the 

type of mode, but we've not taken those analyses 

really at length. We've done some small review 

of mode of conveyance, it does appear that the 

interior, well, the rails and the containers saw 

it first, and that the vessels are starting to 

see it, but nothing really conclusive.

MR. KUHL: So these are all export and 

domestic --

MR. CAPPER: This is --
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MR. AYERS: Lee, is there any 

opportunity for you to go back to the states and 

official agencies, for example, on the container 

buildings where it's mathematical average and get 

the data from them that supports the 

certification to have a better idea of the, a 

better idea of the distribution of SBOC?

MR. CAPPER: So we would need to work 

out what, I think there's an opportunity to 

improve the collection, especially around 

containers. The way that we allow in our 

procedures for the inspection process in 

containers, as such, that the official grades are 

recorded on inspection pan tickets is the term we 

use. It's a sample ticket, it's not a 

certificate, and then, in the containers, they 

then allow for a single certificate to be issued, 

as Dave mentioned, that is a composite. 

And so, again, these results are 

potentially a composite of 20 containers, not 

individual containers. I think it would be a 
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significant lift if the part of the research we 

want to potentially undertake, maybe that's 

something we can do, but it's not an easy exercise 

with the way the data is currently collected.

MR. AYERS: Yeah, I was just looking 

at the 5,700, that could actually be a 100,000 

carriers.

MR. CAPPER: Correct, yes, this is not 

carriers, this is specifically not carriers. And 

that was one of the reasons for my comment about 

the volume, because we are aware that the number 

of carriers represented is not, you know, linear 

to the certificates, and just due to the volume, 

so we get about 25,000 summary inspection records 

a week, just anecdotally, at least, and we have 

quality routines scrubbing through the data they 

submit to at least ensure it complies with basic 

understanding of items. But we have no way of 

saying, is it 20 containers or, you know, 40 

containers, it's depending on the number we get. 

And sometimes data accidents happen, right? So 
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people transpose a pound with a carrier number, 

but I can't tell you that, you know, 700 is a 

wrong number for a combined lot of containers, 

you know, because it could be. But it might also 

be some weight.

So, you know, I think, as I mentioned 

yesterday, data frameworks and data kind of 

standards are some things we've got to think, 

start to talk more about, strengthen our ability 

to tell better stories.

But, so these are, again, the summary 

inspection counts, and to your point, yes, 

there's a significant potentially under reporting 

if you were talking by carrier. It would be a 

different story by carrier.

MR. KUHL: How about certificates 

that SBOC is not certified, domestic shipments is 

not required to show SBOC, especially if there, 

there is none in the sample; is that included?

MR. CAPPER: That is not currently 

included in this data. So potentially you have 
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additional reports.

MR. KERRIGAN: I get it, it tells a 

good story though of what they need to have, 

especially the previous slide showing 2011, you 

know, basically through 2020, a very flat line. 

And then obviously 2021, which that data set, you 

know, runs through the calendar year basically of 

the new crop harvest. And now into 2022, which 

is, I would say what we're hearing, where 

probably the reason for this coming up in this 

meeting, given the timing, it doesn't appear to 

be a, a long standing issue that we've just now 

figured out. It does actually appear to be drawn 

to some recent event, recent cause, something of 

that nature.

So while obviously there's a lot of 

data that we do not have, a lot of information we 

do not have as far as to move forward, it is 

pointing to, it doesn't look like a, a long 

standing issue that's just not being brought up.

Any other questions, do you have 
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anything else or that pretty much --

MR. CAPPER: That is what we had for 

now.

MR. KERRIGAN: Anything else we would 

hear?

MR. CAPPER: Thank you.

MR. KERRIGAN: So we're going to move 

into, is there any other topic we need to talk 

about anymore? Anybody have any more comments 

on the SBOC item?

Okay, we'd like to move into 

recommendations now. There was several draft 

discussions at the end of the last meeting, 

Kendra is going to pull up some information on 

the computer here so we can walk through them. 

I believe that everybody should have received a 

copy of the drafts last night, the e-mail as well, 

so we'll be running through those here shortly.

MS. KLINE: What do you want to look 

at first? You want to look at the reconditioning one first?
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MR. KERRIGAN: Sure.

MS. KLINE: Here's the next document, 

I've got to send the other one.

MR. KERRIGAN: Nick, do you want to 

talk to us or do you want me to just run through 

it. I can flip through it if you want to talk 

from there as well.

So this is the reconditioning plan for 

the FGIS, FDA MOU; I'm assuming that since track 

changes are on here, as far as what you added, 

correct?

MR. FRIANT: Yeah, sorry, at the very, 

excuse me, at the very top, I added that little 

preamble that we discussed yesterday kind of 

laying out where this came from and why it's 

important. I think the key sentence, the first 

couple sentences come right from the current MOU 

directive on the FGIS website.

The key sentence is that third 

sentence ensuring minimal disruption to the grain 

supply chain. FGIS is proposing to establish 
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pre-approved pre-conditioning plans for certain 

types of actionable grain, similar to what is 

already approved for aflatoxin. So setting that 

stage for the conversation with FDA to say, we're 

trying to do this, help the grain supply chain 

and manage the issues around timeliness.

And then in that second paragraph, if 

you could just scroll back up slightly, I added 

the verbiage around how this only applies to 

grain that has been officially sampled, inspected 

and graded by FGIS. And that, again that came 

out of the conversation yesterday to clarify that

this only applies when it's been officially 

graded.

I also dropped any references to rice, 

based, there you go, ma'am, based on the 

discussion yesterday. So in bullet No. 1 and 

bullet No. 5, I dropped rice. 

I think, John, that's correct, we want 

to take those out, right?

MR. CAPPER: In No. 1, you want to 
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drop pulses also?

MR. FRIANT: Yeah, I left that because 

I wanted to ask the group, and I think that's 

correct, we should drop pulses because that's 

AMA, right?

In the discussion yesterday around IDK 

wheat, I made no changes to that paragraph, but 

if you'll see there on the right-hand side of the 

screen, I added just some commentary for us. I 

think, Arthur, you referenced the conversation we 

had in New Orleans around FDA's concern on wheat 

products coming back to the U.S., as I thought 

about that, that was related to grain that had 

been contaminated with large animal droppings, 

and not IDK, and so I think if the discussion 

comes up, the point the FDA is, we're not talking 

about something that could introduce salmonella 

into the grain like the risk with large animal 

droppings or other animal filth.

And let me think, yes, the last couple 

changes I added in the, this first paragraph 
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under 6.5, one thing that we didn't cover real 

well yesterday that came, well, what occurred to 

me when I was working on this yesterday, is this 

top part under 6.5 is referring specifically to 

export locations, and then when we get down a 

little bit further, it's dealing with domestic 

locations. So on the top, added Field Office 

Managers and/or delegated State Program Managers, 

which would, you know, as an example in this case, 

refer to Phil or someone that's part of his team 

that's a delegated state. So that covers both 

FGIS and delegated states and added that same 

language in the next paragraph down just to be 

consistent.

I did take out in 1(d)(I), sampling 

screenings we had in there for aflatoxin, I think 

that was a holdover from what was copied from the 

original SOP, so just made that sampling for 

screenings to be all inclusive of any of those 

types of actionable items, and that's 

instructions for sampling for FGIS.
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No. 2 is whether domestic locations 

came in, so added designated agencies, designated 

agency Grain Managers, just to ensure that that 

covers, for example, Dave, Ryan, et cetera.

So I guess my question to the group 

is, is that, and maybe it's directed more to FGIS, 

is designated agency, designated agency Grain 

Managers, is that the right word to describe 

those folks? I'm getting head nods, okay.

And I think, Matt, yeah, so on the 

disposition, we had some conversation on how that 

was worded, so I broke out another sub bullet 

there that said for all, so it said for aflatoxin 

can go to the appropriate animal species use, for 

all other FDA actionable items, the disposition 

of screenings has to be based on current FDA 

policy, which right now for example, is CPG 

675.200. So just added some clarity on other 

actionable items, and then the same thing in No. 

2, if the reconditioning process fails and it 

continues to exceed action limits, disposition 
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should be based on current FDA policy given 

today's example is 675.200. So just a little bit 

more clarification on the disposition.

Questions from the group? Further 

comments? Tony? Go on. Please no jokes.

MR. GOODEMAN: No jokes. Maybe I 

missed this in the initial review, but in the 

very top line where it says who is recommending 

this, I think the Committee might consider that 

the Committee is recommending this, I mean, FGIS, 

I would think would support it given all this 

discussion --

MR. KERRIGAN: So this isn't the 

recommendation itself. You'll see that there is 

a recommendation separate to this that references 

draft, that basically the GIAC is going to 

recommend that FGIS approach the FDA to update 

with inclusion of further reconditioning plans on 

actual lots basis this draft.

MR. GOODEMAN: Okay, sure, because 

when we interact with FDA, they said it's very 
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compelling to them when they hear directly from 

industry, so just a note there.

MR. KERRIGAN: You'll have those 

minutes. Kendra, can we get the, yep, she's 

gone. 

Any other comments on this, because 

this will be the draft that we're going to be 

recommending here momentarily?

MR. FRIANT: While Kendra is doing 

that, I just want to thank the members of the 

subcommittee that put in the time to work on this 

and provide the feedback from where we started 

about a year ago, give or take, to where we ended 

up. I think we got to a good place, so I 

appreciate the work for the, from the 

subcommittee and the comments, and then the 

deferred comments from the broader committee; so 

thank you for that.

MR. KERRIGAN: Okay, so here we have 

up a potential draft the GIAC recommends that 

FGIS engage with the FDA to update the existing 
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MOU to incorporate additional pre-approved 

reconditioning plans and procedures, in line with 

the attached draft, a document generated by the 

GIAC Subcommittee.

If that sounds good, I'd be looking 

for a motion and a second.

MR. ENGEL: So moved.

MS. COOPER: Second.

MR. KERRIGAN: Okay, any further 

discussion?

All those in favor, say aye.

(Chorus of aye.)

MR. KERRIGAN: Opposed?

All good. The next item we're going 

to talk about here is GIC, GIAC alternates.

Kendra, did you ever hear back on the 

two-thirds majority?

Okay, so we're going to make the 

assumption that the two-thirds quorum with twothirds of the membership that makes a quorum, 

that's currently in the policies and procedures, 
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but also references some of the documents 

supporting our charter and such cannot be changed 

by us.

And so the question to the group here 

is there were two other alternate items regarding 

recommendations, both going to the Secretary; one 

regarding committee appointments holding over 

past the three year term limit, and the other one 

adding actual alternates being appointed for a 

rotating three year term. Both of these items 

were brought up in discussion over the last 

couple days, and as presented by David, there's 

obviously some draft language here.

Obviously both of these would have to 

go through some sort of rulemaking that approves 

the GIAC itself, because the term limits, 

appointments, the actual numbers are all set in 

there. So this would not be, obviously, this 

would be a recommendation up to the Secretary and 

others to support this movement upon the next 

Farm Bill or Grading Standards Re-authorization 
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Act or something of that nature.

MS. COOPER: It seems to me, given the 

experience that the alternates have not been very 

engaged in the process and have kind of tended to 

drop away, that we could word it so that the first 

option was preferred. But if that was found not 

to be possible under the law or under policy, 

that we would recommend the second.

MR. KERRIGAN: Arthur, can we, are you 

okay if we word this as an if then since it's a 

recommendation?

How do you want me to note this, do 

you want me to literally just put in there that 

it's preferred or?

MR. NEAL: You've got the --

MR. KERRIGAN: Okay, so you're okay 

with that, okay.

As far as the second one is, the only 

one that notes the, recommends that the reauthorization; do you want me to put in next 

applicable legislation, do you want me to put 
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anything or is this just, is this good enough as 

a recommendation to the Secretary at the next 

opportunity?

MR. NEAL: Yeah, we're good, I 

understand. So internally we'll have, you know, 

conversations and run the first option through 

USDA. Even if that first option is not successful, 

we'll still share the second option as the 

Department engages with Congress around farm bill 

discussions. At the same time, I think for 

members who are present on this committee, you 

also have access to the second recommendation as 

you engage with Congress around activity on reauthoring the farm bill.

MR. FRIANT: So does it make sense to 

have it as two separate recommendations, or 

Arthur, do you think it's good from a process 

perspective, this way?

MR. NEAL: I understand it. It's your 

decision, you can, you can break them up. It's 

your call, but I understand it and I think either 
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way, both, both recommendations make sense in 

terms of the desired outcome. You want 

continuity with the Committee, and both attempt 

at getting there, just different ways. And even 

if the first option is applied, is successful, it 

still doesn't mean alternates are not good to 

have, because some members may not be available 

for a meeting. Though you have carryover, they 

still may not be available, and having an 

alternate still would be a feasible option.

MR. KERRIGAN: Okay, further 

discussion?

Would anybody like to make a motion 

for this?

MR. ENGEL: So moved.

MR. MORGAN: Second.

MR. ENGEL: We work with that because, 

you know, back in the stone age when I was an 

alternate, I got pulled into a couple meetings 

because there wasn't enough, there were not enough 

members that were going to attend. So I got 
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calls, said can you come to the meeting. 

MR. NEAL: So this is one, a little 

bit of a challenge for us because, Kendra, what's 

our budget, $75,000 for this committee?

MS. KLINE: Yeah, it's has a cap.

MR. NEAL: It's a cap, so we don't 

anticipate, I don't think we have gotten an 

increase for managing and facilitating the work 

of the committee. Ideally, alternates, it would 

be ideal for alternates to be involved in the 

discussions and to be present at the meetings, 

regardless if they're actively voting or not, so 

that they have knowledge of what's going on.

However, we do have now, we're doing 

virtual and in-person. So they now will have a 

better opportunity to stay connected should they 

be asked to participate and fill in, they should 

have, they will have knowledge. So I think we're 

in a little bit of a better position than we have 

been in the past.

MS. GROVE: I was going to state that 
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too, even as an alternate now, with the changes 

in the availability that everybody has these days, 

you could still be connected, you know, with the 

gallery here, even if you weren't in the sense, a 

subsidized member, you know, per diem to a 

meeting, you could still be involved to be 

prepared.

MR. KERRIGAN: Any further discussion?

David, this was your item, any 

comments, discussion?

MR. AYERS: No, I think this will do 

what I was looking for, to make sure the Committee 

is viable.

MR. KERRIGAN: All right, with that, 

I'd ask all those in favor, please say aye.

(Chorus of aye.)

MR. KERRIGAN: Opposed?

Okay, so moved. The next one is a 

long one. Again, all of you should have this in 

your e-mail as well for those of you who have 

electronic devices up.
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This was, a lot of this background was 

taken from Jimmy's write-up and modified slightly 

to be used as a GIAC background material using 

the State of Missouri's Department of AG as an 

example only, instead of kind of the other way 

around. I'll let everybody kind of read through 

here and I'll scroll down and we'll get down 

through some of the recommendations to discuss 

further here.

So what's up right now is the actual 

request. For discussion yesterday, there were 

four items that were brought up. One was realtime train shuttle tracking, additional detail 

with the ETA's, then there was a discussion 

regarding if they moved substantially in the last 

24 hours for scheduling, that there be a pseudo 

penalty, penalty incentive; however, you want to 

phrase that, likened to what the railroad imparts 

on the grain companies, as well as adjusted spot 

times.

So you see the crafted language here, 
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I scan scroll down to the last line of that other 

one as well, and then this would obviously be the 

main portion for further discussion prior to any 

vote on a recommendation.

MR. NEAL: Just an FYI, the department 

is currently working on another response to STB, 

so the timing of this is pretty good.

MR. KERRIGAN: And, you know, as part 

of your comments yesterday, Arthur, we tried to 

put a substantial amount of detail in the 

considerations. You know, these considerations, 

because the timing had not been run by any other, 

you know, AG working groups, any other 

transportation groups, things of that nature, 

really, you know, focused at the heart of Jimmy's, 

you know, really concerns right up, and 

discussions specifically to the inspectors. You 

know, realizing that the inspectors are a, kind 

of a third-party to the arrangement with the grain 

companies and the railroads themselves.

So thoughts or comments on the detail 
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on these four items here? There's the last line 

there for anybody. Does that seem to encompass 

what was discussed? I know there's definitely 

additional dialog in this, but --

MR. SINNER: So moved, Mr. Chairman.

MS. GROVE: I'll second. I'll second. 

MR. KERRIGAN: Further discussion? 

Comments, concerns?

MR. FRIANT: Not a concern, but more 

a comment based on some of the conversation 

yesterday. Part of my understanding is part of 

the focus here is to bring that perspective of 

the official grain inspection agencies, whether 

that be states, designated or otherwise. So I 

think that's a key point of this. It's an 

enhancement to work that's happening to bring in 

another important stakeholder in this situation.

MR. NEAL: I'm smiling, just because 

to me, I look at this as part of history. Looking 

at the No. 4, so this is significant work.

MR. KERRIGAN: Barbara, David, do you 
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have any comments we need down on this?

MS. GROVE: We were just more talking 

about the effective system majority of this did 

talk about how it affected grain inspection, so 

government employees, you know, how does, you 

know, that third point, the third point, in the 

penalties, how does that effect those agencies, 

and my comment was more money does talk, and when 

you're taking, you know, when you're talking about 

possibly impacting their revenues, that may bring 

it a little bit more to their attention of needed 

accuracy. So we were just kind of clarifying 

that point, but we should have brought that up. 

So, sorry.

MR. KERRIGAN: Yeah, yeah, no, and I 

think from the discussion of teeth, right? I 

mean, we can have as much data as we want, but I 

mean, let's face it, David, one of your biggest 

comments there was, you know, times of night, oncall time, trying to compensate, obviously, those 

are all, again, third-party contracts, so it does 
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get a little muddy in how this, how this 

interacts, but if you've got a flowing from one 

way to the other, there is more leeway obviously 

in there for those ancillary contracts. In my 

opinion, because there can be direct payments to 

the secondary services.

MS. GROVE: You know, and also, you 

know, we're talking about how actually grain 

movement makes a very small percent of where the 

railroad's revenue is coming from, so we aren't 

usually on their priority list. But when you 

think of, I'll look at USDA updates yesterday, 

and talking about how have joined, you know, a 

program for, you know, food relief and how big 

people, again, an impact of people understanding 

this does affect the supply chain, this does 

affect food supply. I think that point also helps 

impact people's thinking that it isn't, it isn't 

just, hey, somebody's moving a little grain for 

cattle food; this affects our food supply. So 

that helps to be impactful also in that thought 
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process.

MR. KERRIGAN: Okay, any further 

comments, discussion?

I've got a motion and a second; all 

those in favor, please say aye.

(Chorus of aye.)

MR. KERRIGAN: Opposed?

Kendra, I'm assuming we're thumbs up? 

Thank you, sorry, I know you're multi-tasking over 

there.

Okay, so these are the recommendations 

I have, I believe, that Nick also has a couple.

MR. FRIANT: I just sent those to both 

everybody, but Kendra should have it.

MR. KERRIGAN: I think, Kendra, I'll 

let you try to figure out how to save this 

wherever you'd like.

MR. FRIANT: Okay, so this first 

recommendation deals with what we're seeing, so 

many more importing governments that are 

implementing registration requirements for those 
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exporting facilities. We heard some yesterday 

from Carla, and then we heard some additional 

comments from Ryan during the FGIS updates.

And so as we're seeing more and more 

of these, what I think we need to recommend to 

the Secretary is there's got to be a holistic 

approach because it involves multiple agencies. 

We've got a role for FGIS to play, depending on 

the country of the registration, there's a role 

for FDA to play, there's a role for the Foreign 

AG Service to play and the various posts around 

the world.

And so what this recommendation is 

getting to is that some higher levels of USDA 

under Secretary for MRP, under Secretary for Trade 

and Foreign Agriculture Affairs, lead a task group 

across those agencies to facilitate the least 

trade disruptive approach and coordinate an 

response to these registration requirements. And 

then it discusses this key, this key piece that 

FGIS has to play in options to consider around 
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unique exporter and what facility identifying 

number.

So that's, that's what this one speaks 

to, is having that more holistic cross-agency 

approach to managing these importing country 

requirements as we see more and more of them not 

just applying to process products, package food 

products, food ingredients, but also coming more 

and more into the grain handling space.

MS. COOPER: Could Arthur or Kendra 

clarify whether this topic is appropriate to 

consider since it wasn't on the agenda in advance? 

Just, I mean, I don't disagree with that, I just 

want to understand the rules.

MR. KERRIGAN: Well, it was 

technically part of the FGIS update on the agenda, 

so even though it didn't have an industry issue 

with it, it's my understanding that if it was part 

of the agenda item and the discussion on the 

agenda from FGIS, that it would be applicable, 

but he can reconfirm that.
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MR. NEAL: Yes, this was on the agenda 

as part of an update. I think for the committee, 

you all have to decide to have discussion around 

it enough to move forward with it.

MR. KERRIGAN: So it's obviously a 

very small portion of the day yesterday during 

the update, obviously, you know with regarding 

that. 

Questions, comments from the committee 

for Nick or for others on FGIS regarding what this 

impact would be, how it would benefit; any 

questions, comments, concerns?

MS. GROVE: Although I will say, not 

being an exporter, I don't have to deal with this, 

but when you look at, again, more requirements 

being put on this type of thing, any way that you 

can make it more efficient process and a joint 

process, to me, it's moving our industry and 

abilities forward if exports are rejected due to 

the fact of some cross paperwork or wording, that 

effects all of us. So, again, I just think 
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inefficiency of putting things in one, together 

in one spot makes sense.

And just to the topic of, I'll say 

thoughts on ability of public comment, right after 

it was presented, it was loaded out there to the 

public websites. So anybody who was following 

it, I mean, it did have access to re-look at the 

slides and the presentation. If that helps in 

that area.

MR. FREDERKING: I would just add that 

it is absolutely with the increase in requirements 

from multiple countries, it's just going to be 

more and more a topic for us. So whatever we can 

do to bring consensus and really streamline the 

process, would be beneficial to all.

MR. FRIANT: Well, I think my comment, 

Barb, a little bit to your point, focusing on 

exporters sometimes helps minimize the impact on 

the domestic system. We've seen that where some 

countries want inflow further back into the 

domestic supply chain and were uncomfortable 
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sharing that, and focusing on the exporters 

sometimes helps minimize that impact to domestic 

as well.

MR. KERRIGAN: I'll flip this to 

Arthur or Ryan, thoughts, comments, obviously, 

this is going to have a direct impact or 

encouragement or ask. Obviously, you're dealing 

with this already.

MR. NEAL: Yeah, so just from my 

perspective, the top portion of this, I don't 

understand. I understand that the desire for a, 

for a task group was to provide for a trade 

facilitative and least trade -- U.S. approach to 

coordinate intentionally in response to 

registration requirements. I don't understand 

that. 

It's if you, I still don't understand 

it because, I under, so if, currently we've got 

the Decree 177, and what's the other one, 284? 

If the desire is for USDA international response, 

I just, I guess I'm not quite clear on what their 
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intent is.

MR. FRIANT: Well, maybe the easiest 

way to sum it up is there could be lots of 

different options to manage all these 

requirements, but it could end up being very 

disparate, different approaches based on country, 

based on agency, and so what this is referring to 

is whatever approach is taken, it needs to make 

sure that it helps facilitating trading, right? 

The mission of FGIS, and be the least disruptive 

to trade. So, I mean, is that worthy that 

exporters aren't scrambling around at the last 

minute to get coordinated information, 

coordinated registrations. So you're talking, to 

me, it's referring to the holistic approach of 

the process, right? It's got to help make sure 

trade keeps moving and it has to be the least 

disruptive option to do that.

And the coordinated internationally 

piece, that's around wherever you've got that 

opportunity, and I think I asked the question 
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yesterday, Ryan, if we've had any conversations 

with other countries like Canada or South American 

countries, where we've got that opportunity to 

coordinate with other governments that are 

dealing with these same requirements. If when 

and where possible, we should be trying to do that 

as well, so that we have a consistent approach to 

these new requirements that are being put in 

place.

MR. NEAL: Okay, that's helpful, and 

I think for the most part, the moving in that 

direction, I won't call it necessarily a task 

group, but would coordinate with the, for the FAS 

on our responses, may not be always desirable, 

but we're working on that. So, you know, I think 

we understand now.

MR. KERRIGAN: Okay, I'm going to hold 

here for a moment since these are new.

MR. ENGEL: Question, don't every one 

of these food facilities in the United States have 

a FDA registration number? I thought 2012 meant 
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everyone have to register their facility with FDA 

for security purposes.

MR. NEAL: I'm not sure about the 

elevators, so maybe, maybe so. The, one of the 

challenges in this particular area is that the 

Decree 177 registration requirement that China 

has placed on us, FDA, I mean, FGIS is kind of 

facilitating the exporter registration component 

of that because that was a requirement in the U.S. 

Grain Standards Act that every exporter of grain, 

whether it goes, with exception of those who 

export less than 15,000 metric tons annually, have 

to be registered with us.

So when that came out, what was that, 

2016? 

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

MR. NEAL: Somewhere around there. 

FGIS kind of got grafted into that. When the new 

decree came out around all of the other 

commodities, FDA kind of took on that 

responsibility to help implement that, those 
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requirements associated with that decree.

So with respect to registering under 

FGIS, grain exporters, we can assign numbers, and 

I think the numbers are created for these 

exporters. We have not had discussions on how we 

use those numbers in relation to the registration 

requirements under Decree Point 177.

Short answer to your question though 

is yes, it sounds like facilities are registered 

with FDA. Could there be a way to consolidate 

them? That's a discussion we can have with FDA, 

wrap it all up into one. I will say this though, 

managing or being more nimble, flexible under that 

process will probably be more difficult than with 

us.

MR. ENGEL: I didn't mean to make your 

life harder, I was just asking the questions to 

get clarification.

MR. NEAL: And I'm just sharing 

perspective as we discuss it, that's it.

MR. ENGEL: Thanks for the 
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information.

MR. KERRIGAN: Okay, now this is the 

first everybody is seeing it, I'm going to, before 

I ask for a motion, I'm going to scroll down to 

the second one, and this is on the SBOC.

MR. FRIANT: So we all know we had a 

lot of discussion yesterday and a little bit this 

morning on the SBOC. I think one of the key 

things that's needed here is, as was mentioned 

yesterday, that research on soybean functionality 

related to color, and so that's what this 

recommendation revolves around, is FGIS 

initiating and supporting independent research to 

determine the functionalities impacted by seed 

coat discoloration associated with genetic 

events.

Right now, and I have listed is the 

research should include impact of such seed coat 

discoloration on soybean processing, as well as 

on protein, oil and fat, or other intrinsic values 

of soybeans.
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My question, Matt, I know you've got 

some processing experience; are there other 

factors that we would consider here to ensure that 

functionality is not being impacted, or is it 

these main, the couple that are listed?

MR. KERRIGAN: Which is the protein, 

the oil, the fat.

MR. ENGEL: My question is on that 

first sentence; if this should include 

environmental and genetic and environmental 

events.

MS. COOPER: What is the intent on the 

support; is that financial support or is that 

moral support?

MR. FRIANT: I don't know. I think 

it depends on what needs to be done, and I don't 

know if Arthur or maybe Tony or Pat. The analogy 

is the work that was done previously on sorter 

motor. And so I don't know if FGIS funded that 

or how that worked.

MR. NEAL: Yes, we would have to fund 
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it and just be mindful though that the project 

would be subject to funding. We would have to 

fund it and support could be interpreted different 

ways, but I think we understand the intent.

MR. MCCLUSKY: When we did the sorter 

motor project a number of years ago, we weren't 

really looking at functionality, we were asking 

the operators of those places where we took 

samples, would you accept this sample, would you 

accept this sample, whatever the 10 samples were. 

We didn't ask them anything about any of the 

functional characteristics of those particular 

odors. A little different.

PARTICIPANT: Whose department paid 

for it?

MR. MCCLUSKY: We didn't ask for any 

other money from any other organization. That 

just came out of our normal, our normal operating 

funds.

PARTICIPANT: So we paid for that?

MR. MCCLUSKY: We paid for that, yes. 
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We the people paid for that.

PARTICIPANT: For the calibration 

samples?

MR. MCCLUSKY: Are you talking about, 

are you talking about what we created as going 

forward with the yearly process?

Ryan, do you know on that one?

MR. KUHL: Yes, that was produced by 

the TSD samples.

MR. MCCLUSKY: TSD?

MR. KUHL: Yes, recurring samples.

MR. MCCLUSKY: Okay, so that was all 

those calibration samples we begged for them to 

add to the TSD budget.

MR. KERRIGAN: And this is just a 

comment I guess on the processing side. I would 

think that, you know, reaching out in a similar 

fashion regarding, you know, some of those beans 

or again initiating, you know, maybe a, I guess 

large enough quantities to where some of the 

processors could actually take a look at them and 
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would be part of that versus doing like a full 

scale run down, crush process, bench tasked you 

know, I mean, let's see if it passes the actual 

sniff test so to speak first.

Right, I mean, I think the concept is 

here is obviously there's a concern that the chart 

that Lee showed is going to get larger and we 

don't want to waste too much time on it. So I 

think intentionally, this is written to be a 

little bit vague. As far as what that looks like, 

not knowing where this is going to go.

MR. MCCLUSKY: If I could just say, 

just reading this, and this is based on my 

previous life where I worked at the wheat reading 

program at K State, when you have environmental 

comma, genetic comma, when you add environmental 

in, that is a gigantic project and if you're 

looking by environmental by genetic interaction, 

that's maybe a little closer to what you want to 

get to.

MR. KERRIGAN: Okay.
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MS. GROVE: And I like the wording he 

just said because if it wasn't for an issue in 

the genetics, the environmental factors most 

likely would not have come to play, as other 

genetics are not seeing this. I do feel that's 

a good wording.

MR. SINNER: I agree with that, Matt.

MR. KERRIGAN: Okay, we'll get this 

changed up.

Are there any other comments?

MR. KUHL: I would think that once 

FGIS puts this out, moving said research 

alternatives in the industry, the soybean 

industry gets behind it, you're going to have a 

lot of researchers probably wanting to step up 

and they will find money to do the research via 

that route, not so much through FGIS, is my guess.

MR. NEAL: If they do it, that's 

great, but the question though, the issue we 

raised yesterday is going to be about trust. Who 

funds it? Does the soybean industry fund the
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research? Does the seed manufacturers fund the 

research? And so when the research is completed, 

the question will be, can you trust it. I'm not 

saying you can't, it's just a part of when we're 

trying to address an issue like this, it's going 

to make a difference that it's unbiased, and 

that's the main thing.

So we will definitely be working with 

the research community on it, but the more 

research out there, the better, because we need 

to, we need to support this commodity regarding 

its functionality being preserved. Hopefully 

that's the case after the research is completed.

MR. MORGAN: I think looking at that 

chart can be in everyone's best interest to do 

more research on it. My grand universities are 

always looking for good projects, despite the fact 

that it may be funded via the soybean industry, 

it will also be considered often independent in 

that it goes through the university or in the 

research agency like that. That's just my 
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experience.

MR. KERRIGAN: I'm going to -- I'm 

sorry, go ahead, Barb.

MS. GROVE: I will just say, I don't 

necessarily know if this needs to be part of the 

recommendations, but obviously, you know, 

training and outreach is very important, so 

everybody understands and on the same page.

Yesterday, Ryan had made a comment 

about the quality assurance specialist coming and 

being trained and updated on, you know, this 

specific thing that we're seeing. Do we have a 

plan to assure that we are going to get that 100 

percent of the specialists here to have that 

training prior to the upcoming harvest where 

there's a possibility of a higher percentage of 

market share of this genetic? And again, not 

necessarily has to be part of the recommendation 

if we feel that this is going to happen.

MR. NEAL: And are you speaking about 

the quality assurance specialist?
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MS. GROVE: Yes, to have, to get that 

100 percent, really training and update on this 

particular issue that we're seeing right now, to 

be sure that as then, we're coming to, again, the 

state official agencies that everybody has, you 

know, I myself will reach out to, you know, 

somebody, local grain quality specialist that's 

local, to help me train so that I can train my 

people. So I think, to me, that would be a very 

important, I guess goal, to make sure.

MR. NEAL: So if I'm not mistaken, 

those trainings should be completed by next month. 

Can I guarantee that every official agency has 

sent a representative, I don't know. But the 

trainings will be completed so that, the short 

answer to that, most of them should be trained.

In addition, the Board of Appeals and 

Review continue to work with all of the official 

agencies even after the training to ensure that, 

you know, any adjustments that need to be made in 

terms of grading according to the line, can.
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MR. KERRIGAN: Any further discussion?

I'm going to recommend that we, before 

we move and vote on these two items, let's take a 

15 minute break now, to see if there's any 

refinement, clean-up work on this. We'll come 

back to it and work on these two items, officer 

elections, and move forward. So five-till, 

please. Thank you.

(Whereupon, the above-entitled matter 

went off the record for a brief recess.)

MR. KERRIGAN: Actually, we can go 

ahead and get started. We'll start with the SBOC, 

magically, there's been a revision during the 

break.

The current recommendation is the GIAC 

recommends FGIS solicit initiating support 

independent research to determine the 

functionality is impacted by seed coat 

discoloration associated with currently marketed 

genetic seeds. Research should include impact of 

such seed coat discoloration on soybean 
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processing as it was on the protein, oil, fat and 

other intrinsic values of soybeans or the 

processed products and byproducts.

MR. AYERS: Matt, I have a question on 

this. What's the, what are we looking for in the 

final outcome of this?

MR. KERRIGAN: We're trying to get 

more data. I think the biggest item that we 

talked about yesterday was, to support a standard 

change, we need the data that is, doesn't make a 

material change, or it's not a material impact. 

And I think right now, we've got a lot of data on 

the current, how it's currently being graded, but 

there's a lot of questions on if there's actually 

an impact or not on how the soybeans are being 

used, you know, i.e. feed, food, you know other 

items.

So the idea here is, well there's 

through FGIS, through land grants, through, you 

know, even trying to encourage seed 

manufacturers, providers, to conduct their own 
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testing and actually come to the table and provide 

that information and data to try and get that data 

and information. So that way, either the GIAC or 

other groups would have that information if there 

needed to be a standard change, if there should 

be a standard change going forward or not.

MR. FRIANT: I would just add, Dave, 

you know, today it's been anecdotally shared that, 

you know, this issue of discoloration does not 

impact processing, but we need something a little 

bit more than anecdotal and so we need some real

data that shows, yep, if you've got the 

discoloration, you process it, the end result is 

going to be substantially equivalent to what you 

were processing last year, and the year before, 

and the year before.

MR. KERRIGAN: And I will acknowledge 

that the terms solicit and independent don't 

always go well together. Given that, I think we 

would, you know, liken any information that we 

can get just knowing how much of an adversarial 
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relationship there can be with the seed 

manufacturers, I'll use plural there because, 

again, as you know, trades get more and more 

prevalent, climate change, things of that nature, 

there's a lot of outside influences that I don't 

know that we really know. And it may not 

necessarily just be on FGIS, other than asking 

FGIS because they're the ones with the standards, 

seeing the SBOC grading that, to help gather that 

information for, you know, not only FGIS, GIAC, 

but also the entire industry to have that 

information on the impact or not.

MS. GROVE: And I do think it is 

important, you know, yes, we're talking about a 

particular, particular trait providers current 

genetics, but as you said, we do see this. 

Basically, there's going to be genetic changes 

going forward, to have the information, have some 

starts of studies to help then spur other 

providers to be looking for the possibilities of 

these impacts. First off, to be able to validate, 
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again, wanting the trait provider to confirm some 

of this, but have our own to say this is, this is 

safe, this is still going to be going forward, 

it's not going to affect your operation, is very 

important.

MR. KERRIGAN: And I think the 

committee would agree, you know, with that 

statement as well. While this appears to be one 

specific provider seed trait, there's still some 

question about the information on if it is just 

one or if it's multiple and they're all coming 

online about the same time, so it's that type of 

information as well.

MR. NEAL: Just a quick question. As 

Tony, as one concept I was thinking about was, 

you know, can you cut the soybean and, if it's 

yellow inside, would it still, you know, pass as 

a yellow soybean and Tony brings me, you know, a 

pan full of black soybeans and when you cut them, 

they're yellow on the inside. Are black 

soybeans, just from a practical perspective, 
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because I don't know, are black or brown soybeans 

used in the crushing process still?

MR. KERRIGAN: I don't know of anybody 

that's buying black soybeans, but I don't know 

that we're necessarily excluding them from, from 

my limited experience of supplying our own crush 

plants with soybeans, it was the heat damaged 

beans where you get the discoloration actually in 

the meat that actually causes the issue, because 

that causes a streaking issue. If it's just in 

the hull, the hulls are removed as the very first 

process of processing, and they are set aside, 

and those don't actually go into the oil itself. 

Some are ground and blended back to the actual 

meal, depending on the quality characteristics of 

low pro, high pro, others are actually sold back 

as hulls for direct feed or other uses.

So from a processing standpoint, what 

they're trying to track from it, the hull does 

not impact that other than if they're needing to 

get to one way or the other for the meal itself.
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MR. NEAL: And one of the reasons why 

I'm asking, just because we don't really, right 

now their recommendation doesn't specify, you 

know, what type of seed coat, and we're talking 

about this new discolored seed coat, we're talking 

about the black seed coat. And so if there needs 

to be specificity, or not, just think about that 

too. Do we need to be focused on what we're 

currently seeing or do we include brown, black, 

as well as this new color as well?

MR. KERRIGAN: I think from our

perspective, you know, it's the brown and black 

tends to be associated more with heat damage or, 

or a damage, which should be cut open at that 

point in time, and so it's more readily 

identifiable, which is why they tend to steer 

clear of it. 

But given that we're talking about 

current market, I don't know that anybody is 

actively marketing brown or black for commercial 

operation, I guess.
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MS. GROVE: And I will say, looking 

inland through the Midwest trade territory and 

the states I have worked in historically, you see 

them so randomly and one off that it hasn't had 

this impact. I don't know if stating, stating 

this current, what we're seeing, but I think maybe 

it's implied that this, this is more of an issue. 

So I think maybe, again, the understanding and 

more the implied that is the current issue, versus 

the black hull or the brown hull, because they 

are seen so very rarely.

Now, the brown hull two years ago, a 

particular genetic in an area, it was throwing it 

more often, but not enough to knock it out of No. 

1. Just a little heavier than what we were 

seeing.

MR. KERRIGAN: Okay, any further 

discussion? Too many mics on; we have several 

people trying to talk here. If you wouldn't mind 

muting those?

MR. FRIANT: I will just add, that was 
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part of the debate, if you will, Arthur will get 

to your question, do we call out the specific 

trait that's alleged to be causing the problems, 

and at least in this environment, it didn't feel 

like the right approach to take, but it certainly 

could be persuaded one way or the other. I think 

we need to focus in on that discoloration, like 

Barb said, it's implied what we're looking for.

MR. NEAL: And the only reason why I 

ask is because as we design the research, we want 

to be specific, so whoever does it, whether it's 

us or somebody else, they know exactly what we're 

talking about so that they're still on track.

DR. JHEE: I just need to make a 

suggested clarification in the wording there. So 

let's see, discoloration associated with 

currently marketed genetic seeds, my suggestion 

is, currently commercially available genetically 

engineered seeds. That will help narrow the 

pool.

MR. KERRIGAN: Is that what you're 
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looking for?

DR. JHEE: Yes, yes.

MR. KERRIGAN: Any further discussion?

If not, I'll be looking for a motion.

MR. SINNER: So moved.

MR. FRIANT: Second.

MR. KERRIGAN: All those in favor, 

please say aye.

(Chorus of aye.)

MR. KERRIGAN: Opposed?

Okay, it passes.

Did you have any further changes to 

this? There was not a change made over break; is 

that correct? Or there was?

Okay, so back to the recommendation to 

address importing government registration 

requirements for entities involved in exporting.

Is there any further discussion from 

the group from FGIS? Anybody? Janice?

MS. COOPER: I know we're not 

nitpicking, but the requirements in the third line 
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from the bottom is misspelled. Thank you.

MR. KERRIGAN: If there's no further 

discussion, would anybody like to move on this 

recommendation?

MR. KUHL: I'll move.

MR. ENGEL: Second.

MR. KERRIGAN: I didn't see who said 

that second.

All those in favor, please say aye.

(Chorus of aye.)

MR. KERRIGAN: Opposed?

It passes. Are there any other 

proposed recommendations from the GIAC?

Okay, we'll move on with the agenda, 

and those are all the final copies, so I'll let 

you save them. Are there any other, sorry, topics 

that we need to discuss for the group?

Okay, on to Officer Elections, I would 

like to solicit nominations for the position of 

Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary, if there are any.

MS. COOPER: Mr. Chairman, I would 
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like to propose the following slate. I would 

like to propose Curt Engel for Chair, Nick Friant 

for Vice Chair and Jimmy Williams for Secretary.

MR. KERRIGAN: Okay.

MR. AYERS: I submitted a nomination 

yesterday with Barb being the Chair, Nick the CoChair, and I will add on Jimmy Williams.

MR. KERRIGAN: Okay, are there any 

other nominations? 

Before we get into voting, Barb, Curt, 

Nick and Jimmy, if you're elected, are you all 

willing and able to serve in those positions, 

depending on the outcome?

MR. FRIANT: Yes.

MR. ENGEL: Yes.

MR. WILLIAMS: Yes.

MS. GROVE: Yes.

MR. KERRIGAN: So we will vote; we'll 

do the Chair first. I'll do one name, I'll do 

the second name, we're going to do a show of hands 

with a count, please.
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For the position of Chair, please 

raise your hand if you would like to vote for Curt 

Engel. Please keep them up. I see five.

For the position of Chair for Barb 

Grove, please raise your hand and keep them up. 

I show seven.

Barb, did you vote for yourself?

MS. GROVE: I think I'm abstaining 

from that vote.

MR. KERRIGAN: And then, is Curt on?

MS. KLINE: He hasn't said which one.

MR. KERRIGAN: Well, given the votes, 

I don't believe Curt's vote matters because we 

still have a simple majority, which is what we 

need. So Barb Grove has been elected as Chair, 

Chairperson. 

We have one nomination for Vice-Chair, 

and Nick, a show of hands in favor?

Anybody else want to self-write in and 

vote? 

Okay, same thing for Secretary with 
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Jimmy, a show of hands? Any self-write ins?

Congratulations, Barb, Nick and Jimmy.

We discussed a lot of agenda items 

yesterday.

Are there any agenda items that we 

would like to go ahead and slate on the docket 

for the next scheduled meeting?

MS. GROVE: Did you note those that 

were discussed yesterday?

MR. KERRIGAN: I did, and hopefully 

Kendra did is well, but I do have them.

Did you note them? Okay, Kendra has 

them.

Do you need a recap of them, Barb?

MR. AYERS: Matt, I would like to add 

a review of the recommendations put forth this 

year, the updated, the status of them for next 

year.

MR. KERRIGAN: Okay.

MR. AYERS: Matt, did we have one 

specifically around the IT systems piece? I know 
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we discussed.

MR. KERRIGAN: We did, yes.

MR. AYERS: Okay.

MR. KERRIGAN: So what I have down is 

grade variations between origin and destination, 

broken kernels, specifically surrounding FGIS and 

coordination of multi-agency interactions, 

specifically facility registrations, as well as a 

large IT piece regarding current technologies, 

transfer of information, as well as 

cybersecurity.

If there's nothing else, I'll turn to 

Arthur for some closing remarks.

MR. NEAL: Well, I will say that this 

has been a heck of a meeting. I came in 2019 and 

we started kind of reshaping our perspective on 

the work that the Committee takes on. We didn't 

get a chance to really fully implement it because 

of COVID in 2020, 2021, you know, we're doing 

virtual meetings. This is our first time 

together and it's really good to see all of you, 
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and it's been great to interact with you while 

we've been here together. But to see you all 

flowing work the way that you have over the past 

day and a half has really been good.

The discussions that have been 

facilitated, have been very thorough, thoughtful, 

they've been very productive, and I think have 

been results oriented. And I just want to say 

thank you for your service and thank you for what 

you have done.

There are several members that are 

moving off and I want to take the time to show 

our appreciation to you. Matt, you served as 

Chair for two years, you had to get it quick, 

learn fast, and you've done an excellent job. 

Absolutely excellent job, and I want to give you 

a round of applause just for how you've lead.

This isn't much, but I just want to 

say, on behalf of USDA, thank you for your 

service.

MR. KERRIGAN: I appreciate it, thank 
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you.

MR. NEAL: Thank you, Matt.

Ryan, you came on the same time, 

started out quiet, ended up speaking out, but 

always a strong presence, and I want to say thank 

you as well. We look forward to working, to 

continue working with you. As you all know, all 

the members rolling off, that nomination for GIAC 

has re-opened, it was announced today. So if 

anybody is still interested in serving, there's 

an opportunity, put your name in the hat. But, 

Ryan, we say thank you for your service today.

Last, but not least, I call him my 

godfather, Dave has taught me a lot. A lot of 

folks have taught me a lot, because I didn't come 

in knowing a lot about FGIS. Dave has been one, 

you know, Dave, Tom Ayers, Tom, Dahl; they've 

taught me a lot, and I know, Dave, you served on 

the GIAC a number of times, but I just want to 

say thank you for, and I appreciate the 

opportunity to be a part of the Grain Inspection 
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Advisory Committee and FGIS for all of you still 

serving. And so I say thank you for what you've 

done and what you continue to do.

(Applause.)

MR. AYERS: It's been a privilege. I 

appreciate it. Keep up the good work.

MR. NEAL: Thank you. So I won't 

belabor, but I look forward to incoming 

leadership. I want to thank the committee 

meetings. I appreciate what you all have brought 

to the table, the perspectives, and what you're 

going to continue to bring to the grain industry. 

So we say thank you for a job well done.

MR. KERRIGAN: To just reiterate that, 

thank you, thank you all FGIS leaders, staff. You 

know, while it is an Advisory Committee in name 

and function, we're all in here because of you. 

You know, we all have touch points throughout our 

daily professional lives, to one way or the other, 

and we really appreciate the openness, the trust, 

the dialog, to make it better for everybody. So 
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thank you very much for that.

A special callout to Kendra, thank you 

very much for assisting, for guiding us, for 

helping us, making sure that everything from we 

just show up to the right place and the right 

building on time, as well as making sure that we 

have all of our required paperwork turned in on 

time. It is a task that a lot of us would not be 

very good at, how about that? So thank you very 

much.

Arthur, for your leadership, your 

guidance, openness, and frankly, just for 

speaking openly and in filling in some of the 

greys in between the black and whites, that 

doesn't always happen when it comes to government 

agencies and being able to show us what that color 

looks like in the middle. So thank you for that, 

it definitely helps this Committee, this group, 

be more productive to be able to know what may or 

may not be going on behind the scenes as well.

So thank you, I appreciate the group, 
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appreciate everybody's attendance, participation, 

work on the topics. You've got a fun slate ahead 

of you, a lot of good things moving, we've got an 

industry that's on the rise again with a lot of 

ever present challenges, and hopefully, hopefully 

none of you have to do another two-day Zoom or 

Teams meeting to try and coordinate this because 

I don't know that anybody thought that it was a 

good way to conduct business, but it was the way 

that we had.

So thank you very much. Those of you 

that have early flights, hopefully this gives you 

plenty of time. And with that, there's no other 

comments, I'll solicit a motion to adjourn.

MR. AYERS: So moved.

MR. KERRIGAN: Thank you.

MS. COOPER: Second.

MR. KERRIGAN: Thank you.

(Whereupon, the above-entitled matter 

went off the record at 10:27 a.m.)
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