CINCINNATI, Ohio — U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s plan to improve the nation’s infrastructure, including inland waterways, is welcome news to agriculture groups that have been calling for upgrades for decades.

 

During a talk last week on the banks of the Ohio River, Trump said that he has dedicated $200 billion of a $1 trillion investment plan to rebuild infrastructure. His plan includes grants to rural America to rebuild bridges, roads and waterways, as well as grants to states and cities for infrastructure challenges.

Numerous grain farmers and industry stakeholders were on hand to hear Trump’s speech. “Farmers rely on our national infrastructure every day to get out products to market quickly, safely and efficiently,” said Ken Hartman, chairman of the National Corn Growers Assoc.’s market access team and a farmer from Waterloo, Ill. “Waterways, roads and bridges are central to farmers’ efforts to feed and fuel the world, and we must invest in all of them.”

In his speech, Trump specifically called for upgrading the nation’s aging system of locks and dams, most of which were built in the 1920s and 1930s.

According to the National Grain and Feed Assoc. (NGFA), nearly three-quarters of U.S. grain exports are transported to port via the U.S. river system. In a statement, the NGFA stated that “the inland waterways system provides the lowest-cost, most fuel-efficient and most environmentally friendly and sustainable way to transport grains, oilseeds and other agricultural products.”

American Soybean Assoc. (ASA) officials are also encouraged by Trump’s emphasis on the overlooked inland waterways system.

In attendance were Kendall Culp, ASA director and farmer in Rensselaer, Ind., and ASA Governing Committee member Bret Davis of Ohio.

“We’ve long maintained that the quality of our infrastructure networks in the U.S., those of road, rail, waterways and ports, is directly connected to the competitive advantage we have over other soybean producing countries,” Culp said.

 

Gerry Hayden of the Kentucky Soybean Board and soybean grower from Calhoun, Ky., was among a number of growers and industry leaders in attendance that day.

“If we don’t invest in modernization of this infrastructure, we lost our competitiveness in global export markets,” Hayden said. “We look forward to working with the Administration and Congress to advance an infrastructure package this year.”

An estimated 575 million tons of cargo worth $229 billion are shipped on rivers and waterways annually, including 60 percent of grain destined for export through Gulf of Mexico ports. ASA Governing Committee member Bret Davis of Ohio said this initiative will help with growers’ bottom line.

“Soybean farmers know the impact that waterways have on our bottom line and it’s good to see the President and policymakers recognize that as well,” said Davis, a soybean farmer from Delaware, Ohio.

Those from the Illinois Corn Growers Assoc. (ICGA) applaud the upgrade of inland waterways infrastructure as well. In a statement, the ICGA said “those of us in agriculture who rely on our rivers to move goods know that without the necessary improvements to these systems we’d be at a distant disadvantage as a nation.

Each day that passes with the system in decline represents a loss in our competitive advantage.”