With farmers’ financials under pressure as grain prices hover near four-year lows, news this week that the U.S. Coast Guard lifted barge restrictions on the lower Mississippi River came as welcome news to soybean industry leaders.

Lifting restrictions for barges on the lower Mississippi River “is critical to our bottom line,” says Lawrence Sukalski, a Minnesota farmer and an Infrastructure and Connectivity Priority Area Coordinator with the United Soybean Board.

“During harvest, we need our transportation system to support soybean exports efficiently to ensure we’re seen as a reliable supplier across the globe,” he says.

The Mississippi is part of “critical infrastructure” that provides a “competitive advantage for U.S. agriculture and keeps us in a global leadership position with export customers,” Sukalski says.

According to the U.S. Soybean Export Council, about 60% of the nation’s soybean exports move through the Mississippi and Gulf of Mexico every year. In the 2023-24 marketing year, the U.S. exported almost 1.7 billion bushels of soybeans, or about 38% of the country’s overall supply, based on USDA data.

The river and Gulf “support a continuous supply of high-quality, sustainable soybeans to our customers around the world,” Lyndsey Erb, industry affairs director at the Soybean Export Council, said in an email Thursday. “We have an efficient, world-class supply chain, and that’s one reason why international buyers choose the U.S.”

Related:Weekly Grain Movement: Soybeans lead the charge - Dec. 9, 2024

River part of critical ag infrastructure

The Mississippi is a major artery for transporting grain and other commodities to ports near New Orleans for shipment to global buyers. But low water levels due to persistent dryness late last summer led to a sharp reduction in barge traffic in September and October.

Barge shipments rebounded in recent weeks. During the week ended Nov. 2, downbound corn and soybean barge movement totaled nearly 749,000 tons, up from about 479,000 tons two weeks earlier, according to USDA figures.

“We are very pleased to see a resumption of precipitation throughout much of the Mississippi River watershed,” says Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition. This is “obviously helpful” for farmers, “but it also is extremely beneficial to maintaining water levels during a critical time of the year for soybean exports,” he added.

The U.S. Coast Guard lifted barge transportation restrictions on the lower Mississippi River after recent rainfall across the central U.S. boosted water levels, alleviating a major transportation bottleneck as shippers struggled to move near-record corn and soybean harvest into the global export market.

Related:Export Report: Corn sales exceed expectations

Higher water levels and increased channel width are enabling barge companies to increase both the operating draft of their vessels and the number of barges attached together to form a single unit, Steenhoek says.

Greater operating draft, referring to the depth of a vessel below the water line, allows barges to carry bigger, heavier loads.

Considerable rebound in water levels

“Water levels on the Mississippi River have rebounded considerably (following) the rainfall received throughout the region in late October and beyond,” Steenhoek says in an email sent Tuesday.

This time of the year, especially November, is “game time” for soybean exports, he adds. “Having a major link in our supply chain… returning to normal capacity is a most welcome development.”

Mississippi River levels at Memphis, Tenn., are at a “gauge height” of about 4.5 feet currently from minus-10.4 feet as recently as Nov. 3, according to Steenhoek, who cited U.S. Geological Survey data. At St. Louis, gauge height early this week was about 5.2 feet, down from over 12 last week but still up from minus-2.7 feet in mid-October.