Grain Inspection Inc.

Grain Inspection Incorporated, commonly referred to as “Jamestown” provides official inspection services across the lower third of North Dakota and the central portion of Minnesota.

Founded in 1956 in North Dakota the agency expanded into Minnesota in January of 2006 when the State of Minnesota relinquished its designation. Much has changed since 1956 when the primary grains inspected were spring wheat and barley. The agency still inspects spring wheat, but the primary grain inspected is soybeans, followed by corn.

Rail car inspections remain the agency’s primary business. While much of the business has shifted to high volume shuttle loading facilities, approximately a quarter of the business in North Dakota remains smaller elevators loading single, ten, and twenty-five car shipments. The agency still goes out and probes these cars and brings the samples back to the office for inspection as they always have. Jamestown also has an agreement with the GIPSA Grand Forks office to provide official sampling of edible beans, peas, and lentils.

Grain inspected in Jamestown’s western area is typically bound for the Pacific Northwest export market, while grain in the eastern area moves to the Port of Duluth for export or transshipment elsewhere.

Jamestown is headquartered in Jamestown, North Dakota with additional full time offices in New Salem, North Dakota, and Appleton, Minnesota. The agency covers its designated area with approximately 50 full time employees.

Jamestown has always prided itself in providing accurate results and was equally proud and gratified to receive GIPSA’s Gold Standard award this year for their inspections accuracy.

Chad Huebner, Agency Manager, says he really likes being the person in the middle of grain transactions that can assure the buyer that they are receiving what they ordered. Of course, being in the middle sometimes comes with a little controversy, but the gratification of accurately determining the quality of the grain so it can be traded outweighs any problems.

Chad says the future looks positive for Jamestown. Several new shuttle loading facilities are being constructed in the agency’s territory that will increase their workload and most likely require additional staff.

For more information on the Jamestown Agency, check out their website by clicking here.