Soybean and Commodity Infrastructure

Commodity transportation hit some bumps in May with the closure of the Interstate 40 Bridge in Memphis, which sits over the Mississippi River on May 11. Inspectors found an issue with the bridge's structural integrity and closed it for both road traffic and barge traffic on the river. In a peak time for commodity shipments, 62 vessels with a total of 1038 barges were backed up, causing delays for many agricultural products. issues were resolved in traffic resumed may 14. Any holdup in barge traffic flow compromises us agriculture's ability to deliver on worldwide demand for our product and can impact profitability for farmers when rates of other forms of transportation increase to handle the load. This situation reiterates the importance of solid infrastructure across the country. In other transportation nears the pending acquisition of the Kansas City Southern Railway Company is heating up as Canadian National and Canadian Pacific compete to acquire the company. Initially, in March Canadian Pacific won the bid before KC Southern ultimately chose a higher bid from Canadian National. The merger creates the first rail network connecting the US, Mexico, and Canada. The soy transportation coalition monitors transportation situations across the country and internationally to determine how those situations impact soybean farmers. To keep up with SDC news, check out their website at soy transportation.org and subscribe to the newsletter.