Webinars

Midwest Crop Quality and 2026 Harvest Updates

September 23, 2026 
1:00 p.m. CDT

As harvest gets underway, crop quality and condition can have a major impact on grain handling, storage and processing operations. This webinar will examine the 2026 corn and soybean crops, including how growing and harvest conditions may affect grain quality, storage characteristics and handling throughout the marketing year. Attendees will gain practical insights to help evaluate this year’s crop and make informed decisions about managing grain as it moves from the field into storage and beyond. 

Key Takeaways:

• Crop Quality and Condition 
  What current harvest conditions could mean for corn and soybean quality, including moisture, maturity, test weight and other key characteristics 
• Corn and Soybean Outlook 
  How this year’s crop conditions may affect handling, storage and processing considerations 
• Storage and Handling 
  Potential challenges related to moisture, fines, kernel quality, aeration and grain deterioration 
• Practical Management Strategies 
  Actions facilities can take to monitor, cool and manage grain to help maintain quality through storage and the marketing year

About the Speaker

Dr. Gretchen Mosher
Professor, Ag and Biosystems Engineering
Iowa State University

Dr. Gretchen Mosher is a professor in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State University, where she holds a research and teaching appointment. She also directs the Grain Quality Testing Laboratory at Iowa State, which provides chemical and physical testing of primarily corn and soybeans. Dr. Mosher teaches university courses in Total Quality Management and Grain and Feed Safety and Quality Analytics. She has published over 85 research articles, conference papers, and book chapters, and given approximately 200 scientific presentations.

NFPA 660 for Grain Operations: Turning Combustible Dust Requirements into Practical Protection 

February 10, 2027
12:00 p.m. CST

Combustible dust risks are familiar across grain handling and processing operations, but applying the new consolidated requirements in NFPA 660 can be challenging. In this webinar, grain-industry professionals will learn how Chapter 21 applies to common equipment—including bucket elevators, conveyors, silos, dust collectors, and process equipment—and how it works with NFPA 68 and NFPA 69. The session will distinguish ignition prevention from explosion protection, examine safeguards that are often overlooked, and show why venting, suppression, and isolation must be evaluated as part of one complete protection strategy. 

As the last webinar before GEAPS Exchange, attendees will leave with a practical foundation for informed conversations with equipment suppliers, engineers, and safety specialists at the show. 

Key Takeaways:

• Know where Chapter 21 applies. 
  Identify the grain handling, storage, and processing equipment covered by NFPA 660 and understand how that scope affects required safeguards. 
• Connect the standards. 
  See how NFPA 660 works with NFPA 68 for deflagration venting and NFPA 69 for explosion prevention, suppression, and isolation. 
• Separate prevention from protection. 
  Understand the different roles of belt slip sensors, bearing temperature monitors, alignment switches, spark detection, venting, suppression, and isolation. 
• Evaluate the complete protection system. 
  Consider equipment design, housekeeping, ignition source control, monitoring, venting, suppression, and isolation together—not as standalone measures. 
• Document defensible decisions. 
  Learn when protection is required, when alternatives may be acceptable, and how engineering justification supports ongoing compliance and safer operation. 

About the Speaker

Rob Markle
Regional Sales Manager – Peoria, IL
IEP Technologies – Industrial Explosion Protection – Marlborough, MA

Rob is the Central Region Sales Manager for IEP Technologies, part of the largest industrial explosion protection group in the world. 

His career in Industrial Fire & Explosion Protection began 41 years ago designing and applying Special Hazards Suppression Systems for Industrial Manufacturing Facilities in the midwest. For the last 23 years he has been with IEP Technologies (formerly FENWAL) and is responsible for the application, design and sales of Explosion Protection solutions that comply with the NFPA Codes/OSHA Directive regarding combustible dust. 

Rob is a long-standing member of the NFPA with working knowledge focused on the explosion protection requirements set forth for various industry specific processing facilities that handle combustible vapors and combustible particulate solids. Rob serves as a NFPA 30B Technical Committee alternate and volunteers for a task group.