Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Anonymous

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Research Papers in Economics

The Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers: 
Value and Importance of these Transport 
Arteries for U.S. Agriculture 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
FAPRI-UMC Briefing Paper #03-04 
June 2004 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Prepared by the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute 
 
 
 
 
101 South Fifth St. 
Columbia, MO 65201 
573-882-3576 
www.fapri.missouri.edu 
 
 
 
 
 
   2 
BRIEFING PAPER ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI AND ILLINOIS RIVERS: 
VALUE AND IMPORTANCE OF THESE TRANSPORT ARTERIES  
FOR U.S. AGRICULTURE  
 
 
Introduction 
 
The upper Mississippi River is a 663-mile segment extending from Minneapolis, 
Minnesota to near St. Louis, Missouri: this waterway forms borders for Minnesota, Iowa, 
Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin.  The 349-mile Illinois waterway extends from Chicago, 
Illinois to the confluence of the Illinois and upper Mississippi Rivers near St. Louis, 
Missouri.  Both transport arteries originate important quantities of corn, soybeans and 
wheat that are transported via the middle and lower Mississippi River to export elevators 
in the lower Mississippi River port area (3).  Past studies indicated over 90 percent of the 
export-destined corn and soybeans originating in states that border the upper Mississippi 
and Illinois waterways is destined for lower Mississippi River ports (1, 4).  In addition, it 
is estimated that over half of the U.S.’s corn exports and over a third of the soybean 
exports originate in states bordering the upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers and move 
via these transport arteries to lower Mississippi River ports (1, 4). 
 
Clearly, the upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers are important transport arteries for 
north central U.S. agriculture, however, as shown by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers data,  
grain/oilseed movements on these Rivers is also important to the barge industry (5).  
Over the 1998-2002 period, corn, soybeans and wheat comprised about half of the 
tonnage moving on the upper Mississippi and 40 percent of the tonnage on the Illinois 
waterway.  Also important are the significant quantities of prepared animal feeds, coal,   3
petroleum, fertilizer, construction materials, chemicals and metals that move on these 
Rivers. 
 
The dominance of the barge mode in transporting grain and soybeans from the north 
central U.S. production regions to lower Mississippi River ports centers on the cost 
advantage of the barge mode in moving low-value bulky commodities over extended 
distances.  A recent comparison of barge and rail rates showed ton-mile charges for barge 
movements from Iowa and Minnesota to lower Mississippi River ports to be about half 
that of rail movements.  In particular, grain barge rates from north Iowa and south 
Minnesota barge-loading points to lower Mississippi River ports averaged about $.007 
and $.008/ton-mile over 2000 –2002, while grain rail rates from Iowa and Minnesota to 
Gulf ports averaged about $.014 and $.015/ton-mile.  
 
The low-cost barge transportation made available by the upper Mississippi and Illinois 
waterways would seem important to the competitiveness of the north central U.S. in 
world grain markets since competing countries’ production regions are often much closer 
to deep-water ocean ports than is the remote north central region. For example, the 
intensive corn and soybean production regions in Iowa and Illinois are up to 1,000 miles 
from Gulf ports, the principal export range for U.S. corn and soybeans, while Minnesota 
is about 1,300 miles from Gulf ports and 1,800 miles from Pacific northwest ports.  In 
contrast, much of the soybean production in Brazil is within 400 miles of important 
Atlantic coast soybean ports at Paranagua, Rio Grande, and Santos (2).   Further, 
Argentina’s primary export range, the lower Parana River ports, is within 160 miles of   4 
Argentina’s most intensive corn producing region and about 120 miles from the center of 
that country’s primary soybean producing region.  Further, Bahia Blanca and 
Necochea/Quequen, Argentina’s principal export locations for wheat are within 150 
miles of Argentina’s southern wheat production region while Parana River ports are 
about 120 miles from that country’s northern wheat production region (2). 
 
Analyses 
 
To determine the effect of declining transport capacity of the upper Mississippi and 
Illinois waterways on producer prices, revenues and flow patterns, spatial models of the 
international corn, soybean and hard red spring wheat sectors were used.  The study 
shows important changes in regional grain flow patterns, prices and revenues as the 
transport capacity of these inland waterways declines.  For example, in Minnesota, corn 
is increasingly routed to Great Lakes ports and away from the upper Mississippi as its 
capacity is reduced.  In addition, increasing quantities are directed to domestic processors 
and Pacific northwest ports.  Much of Minnesota’s redirected corn flow to Great Lakes 
ports was destined for Europe, north Africa and the Middle East.  In Iowa, reduced upper 
Mississippi River transport capacity yielded several major changes in flow patterns.  In 
particular, as regions in east and central Iowa reduce corn shipments to the upper 
Mississippi, they increase shipments to nearby processors; this grain replaces corn from 
central and west Iowa that had been directed to processor demands in central and east 
Iowa prior to reductions in upper Mississippi River grain-carrying capacity.  As a result, 
corn in central and west Iowa is increasingly rail-carried to Gulf and Pacific northwest 
ports and demand centers in southwest United States.  The increase in Iowa corn   5
shipments to the southwest United States (e.g., Texas) replaces corn from Nebraska that 
is subsequently redirected to Pacific northwest ports.  Hence, declining transport capacity 
on the upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers was shown to have an important influence on 
flow patterns (3). 
 
The analyses shows revenues of corn, soybean and wheat producers in the north central 
U.S. decline about $350 million/year if the upper Mississippi and Illinois waterways were 
unavailable to transport grain and soybeans to lower Mississippi River ports.  Greatest 
revenue losses are concentrated among Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois producers.  Producer 
revenues’ decline as a result of shipments by more expensive truck and rail modes and 
the increasing quantities shipped into the domestic market at lower prices (3). The 
analysis does not incorporate truck and railroads’ increasing costs and rates that would 
likely result from the increased transportation demands they face because of discontinued 
waterway transportation service.  In addition, the analysis does not include soft red winter 
wheat that enters these two transport arteries. Hence, results most likely offer a 
conservative estimate of grain producer’s annual revenue losses. 
 
Concluding Observations 
Analysis to evaluate the effect of reduced transportation capacity on the upper 
Mississippi and Illinois River showed the following (3): 
 
•  The upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers are central to the transportation of U.S. 
grain exports to distant deep-water ocean ports.  Over half of U.S. corn exports 
and over a third of soybean exports originate on these waterways for transport to 
lower Mississippi River ports. 
   6 
•  Ton-mile charges for transporting grain exports by barge from upper Mississippi 
and Illinois River origins to lower Mississippi River ports is considerably less 
than corresponding ton-mile rates of railroads. 
 
•  The low-cost barge transport made available by these waterways is most likely 
important to the competitiveness of the U.S. in world grain and soybean markets 
since much of the competing nations’ production (Argentina, Brazil) is 
comparatively close to deep-water ports. 
 
•  The comparatively low transportation costs afforded by access to efficient barge 
transportation on the upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers is important to north 
central U.S. grain and soybean producers. Without this service, it is estimated that 
revenues to corn, soybean and hard red spring wheat producers would annually 
decline about $350 million. 
 
•  Producers in Iowa ($152 million), Minnesota ($78 million), and Illinois ($50 
million) lose most if denied access to these waterway transport arteries. 
 
•  About three-fourths of the total reduction in producer revenues that result from 
declines in the Rivers’ transport capacity is concentrated among corn producers 
with producers in Iowa and Minnesota experiencing about two-thirds of the total 
decline in revenues. 
 
•  Near the upper Mississippi River in southeast Minnesota, corn prices are 
projected to decline up to $.25 per bushel if the region is denied access to barge 
transportation. 
 
  
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References 
 
1.   Fruin, J., D. Halbach and L. Hill,  Corn Movements in the United States: 
Interregional Flow Patterns and Transportation  Requirements, University of 
Illinois Bulletin 793, September 1990. 
 
2.  Fuller, S., T. Yu, L. Fellin, A. Lalor and R. Krajewski. Effects of Improving 
South America’s Transportation System on the International  Competitiveness in 
World Grain Markets.  Texas A&M University, Department of Agricultural 
Economics, TAMRC International Market Research Report No. IM-2-01, October 
2001. 
 
3.  Fuller, S., L. Fellin and W. Grant. The Upper Mississippi/Illinois Rivers and 
Grain/Soybean Transportation: An Analysis of Transportation Capacities, Texas 
A&M University, Department of Agricultural Economics, TAMRC Commodity 
Market Report CM 1-98, January 1998. 
 
4.  Larson, D., T. Smith and E. Baldwin, Soybean Movements in the United States: 
Interregional Flow Patterns and Transportation Requirements, University of 
Illinois Bulletin 792, September 1990. 
 
5.  U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Integrated Feasibility Report and Programmatic 
Environmental Impact Statement for the UMR-IWW System Navigation 
Feasibility Study (Draft),  April 29, 2004. 

Army Corps of Engineers, Integrated Feasibility Report and Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the UMR-IWW System Navigation Feasibility Study (Draft),

The Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers: Value and Importance of these Transport Arteries for U.S. Agriculture

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