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NCGA
Committed to Rebuilding River Lock and Dam Systems (10-29-01)
Farmers can grow
all the corn they want, but if their product is unable to be delivered,
it makes no difference how many bushels they harvest. The National Corn
Growers Association (NCGA) understands this and is leading efforts to
rebuild the antiquated transportation system on U.S. rivers.
Currently, the lock
and dam system on Corn Belt-serving rivers are 60 to 70 years old, designed
and built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1930s. Some of
these locks are only 600 feet long, making them unable to accommodate
some of the modern 1,100 ft. barges. Because of this, barge delays have
driven up the cost of U.S.-produced corn and lowered export demand.
NCGA Production
and Marketing Director Paul Bertels said, "The Corps did a magnificent
job with the design and operation of these locks and dams for the better
part of a century. But now the river system is the only place in America
where we are forced to use 70-year-old technology. We are now in the
21st Century and it is time to upgrade the U.S. river system to meet
the challenges of international marketing in the new millennium."
Increasing the efficiency
of the upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers will make a direct impact
on corn growers throughout the nation, said Bertels. "Barges on
the upper Mississippi River system haul more than 1 billion bushels
of corn annually to export. Plus, processing plants base their bid prices
off river elevators and the prices impact the rail lines and highways
away from the mills. By making the river systems more efficient, bid
prices on the river will increase as well as prices throughout the U.S."
Bertels said the
improvements need to start immediately. "These improvements could
take as long as 20 years to complete," he said. "Congress
must see that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finish the (Upper Mississippi-Illinois
Waterway System Navigation Study) immediately."
For more information
on the NCGA's fight to improve the nation's waterways, visit the transportation
section of our website at http://www.ncga.com/transportation/main/index.html.
Last reviewed October 29, 2001
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