Ask most folks how agricultural commodities are transported to market; they’ll probably say truck or train. Some might say ships.
Glance at a map of the United States. There are arteries of water that look like the arteries in a human body. And while life-giving blood flows through our arteries, life-giving water flows through those arteries in the Midwest. The arteries are great rivers, the lifeblood of our economy.
The St. Paul District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains a 9-foot navigation channel from Minneapolis to Guttenberg, Iowa. The channel is supported by a complex series of dams, locks and other structures maintained by the Corps that allow commercial and private navigation of the Upper Mississippi River.
Navigation on the river is dependent on water levels and ice conditions. The navigation season can begin as early as March and can run until ice forms in the fall. During the 2020 navigation season Army Corps staff supported more than 2,600 commercial lockages, or passages of ships through the locks, at Lock and Dam 10 near Guttenberg. It’s estimated in 2020 almost 17 million tons of commodities passed through the locks at Guttenberg. Navigation statistics fluctuate depending on weather, river levels and the length of the navigation season from year to year.
Jim Larson is manager of Red Wing Grain in Red Wing, Minnesota. Red Wing Grain provides a link between farmers in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and grain markets all around the world.
“The export market at the Gulf has been a very strong and consistent market for the local farmers to deliver to at Red Wing,” he said. “With the river market in Red Wing it prevents farmers from having to drive a greater distance to other markets, which saves time and fuel costs. Our local corn and soybeans will go to China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, South America and Africa.
“The river is a very efficient mode of transportation that moves fertilizer, coal, rock and other products upriver while moving grain and other products downriver. All of this activity is with minimal carbon emissions.”
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers touts barge shipping as being especially energy-efficient. Barges are moved by towboats on the Upper Mississippi in “tows” of 15 barges. According to the Corps a barge can move a ton of cargo 647 miles per gallon of fuel. A rail car would move the same ton of cargo 477 miles. And a large semi-tractor trailer would move that ton of cargo only 145 miles per gallon of fuel. Barges have the smallest carbon footprint among transportation modes.
“Most of the time we ship to export markets, unless there is a crop shortage in the United States,” Larson said. “This has been an extremely busy year with huge exports to China on corn and soybeans. We were also fortunate to open up for grain unloading in March, which really helps extend our season for the customer. Normally we have to wait to unload trucks until closer to mid-April, after Lake Pepin opens and the lock and dam repairs are finished. But this year there was little ice, and the lock and dam maintenance finished early.
“The river usually closes around Thanksgiving or Dec. 1 at the latest to get the barges out of the Upper Mississippi from cold weather and ice concerns.”
Farmer access to foreign and domestic markets opens for Minnesota and Wisconsin at river markets like Red Wing Grain. Food from the Midwest flows to the world through a major life giving artery – the Mississippi River.
Visit redwinggrain.agpartners.net and www.mvp.usace.army.mil for more information.
