Agriculture as a Source of Barge Demand on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers - Randy Schnepf - Bog

Five of the nation's top agricultural production states, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin have traditionally relied on the Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway (UMR-IWW) navigation system as their principal conduit for export-bound agricultural products mostly bulk corn and soybeans. The low-cost, high-volume capability of barge transportation has long provided an important competitive advantage for U.S. agricultural products in international markets. Agricultural barge freight on the UMR-IWW grew rapidly for several decades in the post-WWII era, but has leveled off since the early 1980s. There is disagreement over the cause for this lack of growth in barge demand.