John Hennessy III,
P.E.
As we sit and watch our infrastructure crumble, what can we do? We all depend on the roads, the bridges, the canals, the rails. But we’re not in the same position as Congress. We don’t play the role of financing the renovation. They pass the bills, then we do the work. But the question still remains. What can the individual do in the face of a system that struggles with enabling the individual to do anything?
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AMERICAN FARM BUREAU FEDERATION
Unfortunately, the agriculture industry is uniquely dependent on efficient rail freight systems in the hotspots most affected by congestion. Some North Dakota grain elevators, for instance, entirely rely on rail shipment to keep business flowing. Rail congestion in 2014 stopped service to them for weeks and months at a time – a total collapse in the system that supports their livelihood. Ultimately, family farmers bore the costs of scarce rail service. The USDA estimates grain and oilseed producers throughout the Upper Midwest may have received $570 million less for the crops they marketed in 2014 than they could have earned in a normal freight environment.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
The purpose of this analysis is to examine trends in the type of transportation used to move grains grown for the food and feed industry. Grains produced in the United States move to domestic and foreign markets through a well-developed transportation system. Barge, rail, and truck transportation facilitate a highly competitive market that bridges the gap between U.S. grain producers and domestic and foreign consumers.
Chad Denny and his family grow wheat in eastern Washington and sell it to local mills and to the world. Their grain ships to their customers by road, highway, freight railroad, and the river system. How can our freight routes support family farmers? See the Washington State Freight Mobility Plan for more.
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CERES
U.S. corn farmers are among the most productive and technologically advanced in the world, generating a record harvest of nearly 14 billion bushels in 2013—enough corn to fill a freight train longer than the circumference of the Earth. This production supports a mammoth agricultural sector comprised not just of farmers, but also major food, feed and energy companies that have an enormous stake in the long-term productivity and resilience of American agriculture. However, in the face of this bounty, three major threats to U.S. corn production loom: climate change, unsustainable water use and inefficient and damaging fertilizer practices.
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