Economic Recovery funding to complete Columbia Channel Deepening

Farm and Ranch May 18, 2009 Washington Senator Patty Murray has announced that the Columbia River Channel Deepening project will receive nearly 27 million dollars under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Murray, a senior member of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, says the funds should be enough to complete the project.

Funds for deepening the river channel were not included in the Administration’s original list of recovery projects but Senator Murray spoke with Obama Administration officials about the critical economic impact completion of the project will have. Deepening the Columbia River Channel from its current 40 foot level will allow larger ships to visit Lower Columbia ports benefiting farmers and businesses.

A lot of Pacific Northwest and U.S. wheat is exported from Lower Columbia ports but those volumes could be down for the 2009 wheat crop. USDA Outlook Board Chairman Jerry Bange says the outlook for the 2009/2010 marketing year is for fewer U.S. wheat exports.

Bange: “We do see an export picture here that is not quite as bright as last year. The 2008-09 year we did 1.01 billion bushels of exports. This year we expect to see exports of about 900 million.”

Of course the U.S. is forecast to have a 19 percent smaller wheat crop this year too.

USDA has not yet broken down its U.S. wheat export forecast by wheat class, such as for soft white, the predominant wheat grown in the Pacific Northwest.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.