Processing Grain Products
Ag Processing Technology
Major Field Crops in the United
States
•7
• Grown for their edible seeds
Corn
• Most important in US
• 35-40% of what is produced annually is grown in the
Midwestern states of Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska,
Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio (in ranking order)
– SD is ranked 6th for Corn for Grain Production
• Around 80 million acres of land are planted to corn
• US accounts for nearly 50% of the corn produced in
the world
• More than 90 percent of total value and production of
feed grains
• Less than 10% of the corn grown in the US is for
human consumption
– Other uses-- livestock feed, alcohol production and other
products
Wheat
• One of the most important crops in the
world
• Ranks 2nd to corn in US
• Primarily used for human consumption
• Ground into flour which is then turned
into products like bread, cakes, cereal,
crackers, macaroni, noodles
• Other uses include alcohol and livestock
feed
Flour Milling
• http://www.usm.my/biomatsci/VLECTU
RE/Flour%20milling%20process/FMP.ht
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Barley
• 5th among grain crops produced
• Most used for livestock feed
• Also important to the malting industry
• Malting is the process of preparing grain
for the production of alcoholic beverages
Oats
• 4th in acres produced in the US
• Major oat producing states are SD, ND, MN,
WI, and IA
• 5% of oats are made into oatmeal and cookies
• Rest is used for livestock feed
• Oats are also used in making plastics,
pesticides, and preservatives
• Also used in the paper making and brewing
industries.
From the Field to the Table
• A Counsel On Oats...
• A tough, old cowboy once counseled his
grandson that if he wanted to live a long life,
the secret was to sprinkle a pinch of
gunpowder on his oatmeal every morning.
• The grandson did this religiously and lived to
the age of 110.
• He left four children, 20 grandchildren, 30
great grandchildren, 10
great great grandchildren and a 50 foot hole
where the crematorium used to be.
From the Field to the Table
• Old Fashioned Rolled Oats –
• These are made by steaming the groats
and flattening them with a roller.
Rye
• Least economically important crop
• Most is grown in SD, GA, MN, ND, NE
• 25-35% used for grain
• Otherwise it is used for forage, as a
cover crop or as a green manure crop
• Rye grown for grain is used for animal
feed, flour, whiskey and alcohol
production
Rice
• Most important grain crop grown for
human food in the world
• Majority grown is for human food, the
rest is exported
Sorghum
• Grown primarily for livestock feed
• About equal to corn in food value
• Other uses
– Forage
– Manufacture of syrup and sugar
– Making brooms
Oilseed Crops
Oilseed Crops
• Grown for the production of oil from
their seeds
• Increasing in importance
Soybeans
• Approx. 60 million acres grown in the
US each year
• Oil and grain are the major uses
• Meal resulting from oil extraction is
used as a protein source for livestock
Peanuts
• Actually a pea
• 1 ton of peanuts in the shell yields about 500
lbs of peanut oil and 800 lbs of peanut oil meal
• Remaining 700 lbs is mostly shells
• Oil is used for livestock feed and as a human
protein source
• Other food products made from peanuts
include peanut butter and dry roasted peanuts
Safflower
• Produced mainly in California
• Oil is used in the production of
– Paint
– Other industrial products
– Cooking oil
Flax
• Originally produced for fiber that is used
to produce linen
• Oil produced is called linseed oil
• Important in the use of paint and
hundreds of other things
Sunflowers
• Two types commercially grown
– Oil type—90% of sunflower production
– Non-oil type
• Oil is used for margarine and cooking oil
• Oil meal is used as livestock feed
• Oil can also be used a substitute for
diesel fuel in tractors
Bio-Diesal: A Renewable
Resource
• Produced from such oilseeds as rapeseed and
sunflower seeds
• Recycled vegetable cooking oils and animal
fats have proved to be a cheap source of oils
• Oils and fats form chemical compounds called
esters when they are combined with methyl
alcohol under alkaline conditions
• These are an improvement over early
biodiesels
– They work better in cold weather than did the early
biodiesel products
Specialty Crops
Cotton
• 15 million bales/year harvested
• 9 million are needed in the US and the
rest is exported
• Seeds are processed to remove oil for the
vegetable oil industry
• After oil extraction the seed is ground
for animal feed
Sugar Beets
• 35% of the refined sugar in the US
Sugar Cane (X)
• 65% of the sugar refined in the US
Tobacco
• Original North American product
• Best suited to small farming operation
due to the intensity of labor
• Cash crop
• Production declined in the 1980’s due to
decrease in tobacco use but increased
again in the 1990’s when export market
opened up
Seed Crops
Producing Seeds for Field Crops
• Raised in same conditions as plant will
encounter
• Subject to inspection and testing to
ensure purity and quality
Vegetable Seed Production
• Produced in isolation
• Arid climate is desirable to prevent
fungi, bacteria and other organisms
• Most are produced on irrigated farms at
isolated locations in the western desert
region of the US
• After harvest seeds are placed in storage
under carefully controlled conditions to
preserve their ability to germinate
Career Areas In Crop
Production
Career Areas
• Broker
• Elevator Manager
• Grain Handler
• Agronomist
• Producer
• Other