Thankful for Water Bill Progress

Thankful for Water Bill Progress. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture.

Farmers and ranchers – along with most of the rest of the population - are hard-pressed to find much to be thankful to Congress for this year. But American Farm Bureau transportation specialist Andrew Walmsley says there is one reason: both the House and the Senate managed to pass water resources legislation, which would update outdated locks and dams and port facilities.

WALMSLEY: They understand the importance of having this waterways infrastructure and how it fits into a national network of moving goods across the country, goods everyone needs. A lot of things move through our waterways and a lot more things move through our ports. So I think a lot of folks recognize it's time to update these types of critical infrastructure.

Forty-one states utilize inland waterways infrastructure. Add the impact of the ports and you've got the whole nation benefiting greatly from the legislation.

WALMSLEY: You're talking about jobs. You're talking about utilizing one of the most efficient and cost effective modes of transportation. When you look at one 16-tow barge, it's equivalent to 215 railroad cars or a little over 1,000 semi-trucks. It makes us very competitive. For our farmers, say, in Iowa competing with farmers in Brazil, we beat them by seven to eight percent cheaper because of our infrastructure, not having to truck it. We have our inland waterway system.

Now a conference committee is working to iron out the differences in the two bills. The biggest problem facing passage is the calendar.

That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.