World Grain - December 2010 - 65

FEATURE

IAOM,ALIM
a winning combination
F

or the second straight year, the Latin America District of the
International Association of Operative Millers (IAOM) held
its annual meeting in South America in conjunction with the
annual Latin American Millers Association (ALIM) conference.
IAOM officials said they were once again pleased with the attendance and the benefits of co-locating with ALIM. About 80
millers affiliated with IAOM attended this year's event on Nov. 7
at the Cartagena Hilton Hotel in Cartagena, Colombia. The oneday technical session preceded the annual ALIM meeting, which
was held Nov. 8-9 at the same venue.
"We were very excited to have another good turnout," said
IAOM Latin America District Director Marco Fava. "We had a
good discussion about what we could do to improve the 2011
meeting in Antigua, Guatemala. We are encouraged by the participation, but we would like to see a core group attend on an
annual basis - regardless of location. In order for that to happen,
the district executive committee needs to ensure that millers in
the region see the value of being an active member."
The IAOM technical program included presentations on topics such as preparing grain for optimal milling, new techniques
in wheat storage, calibrating flour for bread-making, getting the
maximum profit from your existing mill, an overview of flour
milling in China, and technical innovations that significantly benefit the baking industry.
In addition to the technical presentations, representatives from
five companies participated in the "What's New?" session - sharing information about their innovations and developments.
District meeting attendees closed out their day by joining the
opening reception of the ALIM meeting.
The district plans to hold its 2011 annual meeting in conjunction with the annual ALIM conference. The 2011 IAOM meeting is scheduled for Nov. 19-20 in Antigua, Guatemala. ALIM
is Nov. 20-23.
IAOM Executive Vice-President Melinda Farris said district
leaders would like to see attendance consistently above 100,
which was the turnout for last year's meeting in Buenos Aires,
Argentina. The plan is to start promoting the 2011 event earlier in
the year to increase awareness of the event in the Latin American
milling community.
"I think if we do that we'll see the numbers increase," she said.
66

by Arvin Donley

Organizations will continue to hold
joint conferences with next year's
event scheduled for Guatemala
IAOM EURASIA MEETS IN REIMS, FRANCE
The IAOM Eurasia District also held a joint event as
it conducted it fifth annual conference and expo Oct. 15
in conjunction with the Association of Cereal Industry
Trades Alumni (AEMIC) at the Convention Centre in Reims, France.
The event featured presentations by IAOM Vice-President
Joe Woodard on how the European milling industry can utilize
IAOM as a training resource and Chopin Technologies' Charle Loubersac d'Hotel on ensuring a consistent end product,
and an update on flour fortification activities from Quentin
Johnson of FFI.
The AEMIC event, which drew nearly 2,500 representatives from the European cereals sector and featured more than
140 exhibitors who supply equipment and services to the cereals and milling industries, was held Oct. 14-15.
IAOM's Farris said attendance for the IAOM Eurasia event
was down compared to past years, but that the French milling
industry was well represented.
"Our goal was to increase our visibility in Western Europe
and I think we accomplished that," she said. "I think the millers in France got to know IAOM a little bit better."
Farris said there has been discussion about holding the 2011
meeting in Italy, but an exact location or date had not been
decided as World Grain went to press.
See photos from IAOM Eurasia
District Conference and Expo on pages 68 and 69.
We want to hear from you - Send comments and inquiries to worldgrain@
sosland.com. For reprints of WG articles, e-mail reprints@sosland.com.

December 2010 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

http://www.World-Grain.com

World Grain - December 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of World Grain - December 2010