Transportation: Rivers, Rails and Roads

The Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is an essential part of our export infrastructure. The profitability of every Minnesota grain producer is impacted by the ability to efficiently ship soybeans to the Port of New Orleans via the Mississippi River.

Many of the Mississippi River's locks and dams are over 50 years old and in need of substantial repair and modernization. As a result, shippers suffer costly delays and increased expenses, which result in even lower prices paid to farmers. The Minnesota Soybean Growers Association (MSGA) and the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council (MSR&PC) support efforts to upgrade the deteriorating lock and dam system on the Mississippi River.

Barge transportation is one of the most efficient and environmentally-friendly ways to move grain. The river system can move more goods with less air pollution, noise pollution and fossil fuel usage than any other means of transportation. Good river commerce and an environmentally sound river system can work together.

Rails & Northwest Shipping

With demand for soy continuing to grow in Asia, shipping Minnesota soybeans and soybean products from the West Coast will be critical to our competitiveness in the global soybean market. According to a checkoff-funded transportation study, shipping soybeans from the West Coast saves 10-18 days compared with shipments from the Gulf of Mexico. For this reason, the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council funded projects that led to groundbreaking for a new shipping facility in Grays Harbor, Washington. With reduced shipping times and ocean freight rates, westward rail shipments will be cost-effective and will open the door for Minnesota soybean farmers to capture more value for their soybeans.

Roads

Because Minnesota's roads are the first critical component in an integral agriculture transportation network, MSGA supports a fulltime 10-ton road limit for all rural highways in order to efficiently and safely move agricultural products from producer to consumer.