Com Growers Denounce USDA’s
Inaction On Upper Mississippi River
ST. LOUIS, Mo. The
National Corn Growers As
sociation (NCGA) recently
publicly chastised the USDA
for its inactivity on the issue
of improving the transporta
tion infrastructure on the
upper Mississippi River.
Addressing the USDA’s
Agricultural Transportation
Summit in St. Louis, Tim
Burrack, a com grower from
Arlington, lowa, and a
member of the NCGA Pro
duction and Stewardship
Action Team, rebuked the
USDA for its failure to fulfill
commitments made two
vears ago.
“In 1998, USDA held a
summit similar to this one to
determine the transportation
nieds of American agricul
ture,” said Burracl*. "One
hey {wto from that ineeting
was thii|&lhericaii farthers
saw thetilre need for improv
ing locklhn the upper Missis
sippi and Illinois rivers. Two
years ago, it seemed the
USDA got the message, tout
ing various Memorandums of
Understanding with the De
partment of Transportation
and the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers. It now appears
only the Corps has honored
those documents.”
For several years, the
NCGA and other leading ag
ricultural groups have
pressed for improvements to
lodes and dams on the upper
Mississippi and Illinois rivers
in order to maintain the
United States’ competitive
edge in the global grain trade.
Major competitors of U.S.
farmers Argentina, Brazil
and China continue to
invest hundreds of millions of
dollars into their transporta
tion systems and dramatic
ally reduce their costs for
moving grain for export.
The NCGA has actively
Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 20, 2001-Psgs
(o®im fM mm
■VAWA MATTER CORN GROWERS ASSOC., INC.
endorsed the Corps’ comple
tion of the Upper Mississippi
River Navigatidi* Study.
That study will outline the
economic and environmental
benefits of doubling the size
of seven locks from 600 feet
to 1,200 feet and lengthening
Sidewalls .on five other
locks. The 15-year project
would cost $1.2 billion. A
lock and dam users’ trust
fund would pay $6OO million
with the U.S. Treasury
paying the other half.
“NCGA is particularly in
terested in this study because
the upper Mississippi and
Illinois rivers are the primary
artery for U.S. corn and bean
exports,” Burrack said.
“Every year, more than one
billion bushels of corn move
toward export markets on
these waterways.”
Since the summit more
than two years ago, Burrack
said, the Corps and agricul
tural groups have repeatedly
asked USDA to provide in
formation and expertise to
the study
requests that have
fallen on deaf ears.
“Much of the cur
rent debate sur
rounding, economics
of the \q»p#r Missis
sippi study could be
put to rest if USDA
would only commit
the resources neces
sary to find the cor
rect answer,’’ said
Burrack. “Instead,
we see a USDA that
just wants to hold an
occasional meeting
and perpetuate the
myth that it is repre
senting American
agriculture.”
Burrack pointed
out that since the
1998 summit, for
eign markets have
continued to expand
while “the Corps
has met the study
deadline with delays
and USDA has con
tinued to duck its re
sponsibilities as the
governmental repre
sentative of U.S. ag
ricultural interests.”
USDA has been
correct in pointing
out that the salva
tion for American
agriculture is
through foreign
trade, Burrack
noted. But he
warned that if the
necessary infras
tructure to meet ex
panding global
demand is not put in
place, the U.S. is
itself opening up
foreign markets for
its competitors. “If
we are going to grow
our export markets,
USDA must stop ig
noring the needs of
the upper Missis
sippi River,” he
said.
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