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Balanced Reporting. Trusted Insights.
Sunday, April 13, 2025
In this opinion piece, Courtney Briggs, president of the Agricultural Nutrient Policy Council, argues that the council has successfully served as a bridge between farmers, lawmakers, and governmental agencies to reduce nutrient loss in the Mississippi River Basin.
Dry weather has helped speed Midwestern and Southern farmers through most of this fall’s corn and soybean harvest while also limiting the amount of grain they could send down the Mississippi River. As many park their combines for the year, they are hoping rain storms can replenish soils parched and waterways shrunk by months of drought.
USDA is awarding $1.5 billion for 92 Regional Conservation Partnership Program projects across the country, including efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and improve water quality from agricultural operations.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers aims to spend a record $456 million on inland waterway construction projects this year, making major headway in addressing a backlog of infrastructure projects vital to shipping.
The latest Environmental Protection Agency’s Hypoxia Task Force report to Congress concludes farmers and ranchers are succeeding in reducing nitrogen runoff in the Mississippi River watershed, but additional efforts are needed to meet phosphorus load reduction goals.
Mississippi River water levels are at historic lows – dropping even below where they were last year when barge transport came to a complete halt – and that means increased costs and slower delivery for farmers that need to get their crops to the Gulf.
Flooding conditions along the Mississippi River, brought on by the warming of massive quantities of snow to hit the Midwest over the winter, are expected to cause issues for inland waterway transportation into next week.
The U.S. fertilizer sector is doing well, buoyed by solid demand and strong commodity prices, but the industry is increasingly concerned about disruptions like low water levels in the Mississippi River and a potential rail strike, says Corey Rosenbusch, president and CEO of The Fertilizer Institute.
Despite some improvement from a week ago, record-low water levels are continuing to hinder grain transportation on the Mississippi River, leaving farmers with fewer alternatives for getting their crops onto barges to export.
