By Blake Haas
BLOOMINGTON – Just as farmers are putting their final touches on their harvest season, another crisis is hurting the amount of grain farmers can transport.
Coupled with high diesel prices and a possible railroad strike, the Mississippi River drying up fast, forcing barges to transport two-thirds full.
“I think we’re seeing some of the lowest levels in the river in history in through here. It was so low that barge traffic stopped, got hung up on some areas there. They had to dredge under the barges to (get them) framed up to move. We’re looking at some one-way traffic,” Curt Kimmel, a Hedging strategist at AgMarket.net, told WJBC.
According to Kimmel, a train of barges can hold around 800,000 bushels of corn or soybeans down the river for exports, while train cars are smaller.
“The river bed has gone to almost zero because to ship grain down the river; we’re looking at all-time historically highs of cost of movement to move that grain down the river. It’s become uneconomical here this fall. They are a little optimistic if we can get some rain and get the river a little higher, we can move some grain down that system here towards year-end.”
However, with a train strike looming and a drought, Kimmel adds that elevators might have to rely more on the trucking industry compared to years past.
Blake Haas can be reached at Blake.Haas@Cumulus.com.
