Hurricane Assessment Continues for Corn Growers, NCGA Notes (9-9-05)
A week after Hurricane
Katrina hit the Gulf states, the National Corn Growers Association
(NCGA) is continuing to assess the impact on transportation, energy
costs and trade from the devastating storm.
“We’ve been
working closely with the U.S. government and other agriculture industry
organizations, as well as the inland waterways community, in order
to fully realize the present and future impact of the hurricane,”
said Lisa Kelley, NCGA director of public policy. “This information
is critical to our growers because it is directly affecting their
livelihoods. As we head into harvest, growers are making decisions
on how best to get their product to market.”
NCGA has long-advocated
that barge transportation is the cheapest and most environmentally
safe way to transport corn. However, with the recent problems of extreme
drought on the Upper Mississippi River and now with the uncertainty
of future exports through the Gulf ports, Kelley said growers will
see corn prices negatively impacted in the near term.
Leon Corzine, NCGA president,
said the uncertainty of getting products to export markets is a major
cause for concern right now for all growers. “We have to make
sure we have a way to provide our products to our export customers.
Otherwise, that market could be replaced by our foreign competitors,”
he said.
According to Corzine, there are three issues affecting farmers: pressures
of the harvest season beginning; finding out where the 2 billion bushel
carryover from the 2004 crop will go; and skyrocketing energy prices
hitting growers at a time when their energy needs are the greatest.
June Silverberg, NCGA director
of public policy, said from a trade standpoint, growers are pleased
the Bush administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continue
to make agriculture a top priority as restoration of navigation on
the Mississippi River continues.
Another important development
is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Federal Grain
Inspection Service is providing inspection and grain weighing as grain
elevators resume operations while USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service resumes responsibility for issuing phytosanitary certificates
that attest that U.S. commodities meet international standards for
purity.
“After speaking with
USDA officials, it is our understanding that both agencies have a
sufficient number of employees to accommodate the needs of exporters,”
Silverberg said.
According to industry organizations
and the USDA, restoration of full navigation and barge and vessel
operations on the Mississippi River and the recovery of the New Orleans
port are priorities.
Kelley said the Mississippi
River is now open to two-way traffic but is limited to daylight hours
because navigation aids are not yet working. However, there are positive
signs that traffic into the New Orleans port is steadily improving.
“We are seeing some
signs that traffic is moving on the river and through the port, which
is encouraging, but there are still a lot of issues that will continue
to affect the ports becoming fully functional,” she said. “There
are damaged barges, the port is not completely operationally, there
are electricity issues, no crews are able to work the port, and tariffs
are increasing on the rivers. Getting back to full working capacity
and regular pricing is going to be a long-term project.”
Regarding grain facilities in the New Orleans area, the 10 export
elevators and three ‘floating rigs’ which load 30,000
to 60,000 bushels of grain per hour from barges directly on to ocean-going
vessels or ocean-going barges are operating at 63 percent capacity.
Vessel restrictions (arrivals and departures), slower barge movements
and limited staffing are minimizing full utilization of loading capacity.
When fully operational, the elevators have a storage capacity of approximately
53 million bushels with a capability of loading 970,000 bushels per
hour.