Search Site   
Current News Stories
Solar eclipse, new moon coming April 8
Mystery illness affecting dairy cattle in Texas Panhandle
Teach others to live sustainably
Gun safety begins early
Hard-cooked eggs recipes great for Easter, anytime
Michigan carrot producers to vote on program continuation
Suggestions to celebrate 50th wedding anniversary
USDA finalizes new ‘Product of the USA’ labeling rule 
U.S. weather outlooks currently favoring early planting season
Weaver Popcorn Hybrids expanding and moving to new facility
Role of women in agriculture changing Hoosier dairy farmer says
   
News Articles
Search News  
   
Illinois FB tour group scouting Panama preparations at ports
 


By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — The Illinois Farm Bureau’s (IFB) 2014 Port and Logistics Infrastructure Tour, featuring a contingent of select Illinois farmers and state agriculture leaders, concluded Sept. 6 after a firsthand glimpse at how southeastern U.S. ports are preparing for the reopening of the expanded Panama Canal in 2015.
Scott Sigman, transportation infrastructure lead for the Illinois Soybean Assoc. (ISA), was among the group that visited Galveston, Savannah and other major port cities for exports.
“(ISA) participation in the Farm Bureau Port and Logistics Infrastructure Tour enabled the stakeholders across a range of agribusiness to gain a firsthand, current understanding of the opportunities that arise from the competitive advantages that the U.S. has in getting crop production to market,” said Sigman.
He was accompanied on the weeklong tour of Southeast shipping ports by Tamara Nelsen, senior director of commodities for the IFB, and representatives from Bloomington-based GROWMARK.
“Likewise, farmers-growers and ag professionals were able to recognize the limitations and threats that exist, that arise from the potential pinch-points, the ports, as a kind of venturi of the hourglass that could be constraints to smoothly moving our agricultural exports, particularly soybeans and soy products to customers overseas.”
The first stop on the trip came at the Port of Port Arthur, Texas, followed the next day by a visit to the Port of Galveston and the city of Houston, where the group attended a session on trucking issues and infrastructure. Day three found the group traveling from Houston to New Orleans, where they met with ADM officials and later learned about the rich history of the Crescent City.
The second leg of the journey took the ag leaders to the Port of South Louisiana in the town of Reserve before traveling to the Georgia Ports Authority in Savannah. They concluded the trip with tours of the Port of Virginia and Perdue AgBusiness at Norfolk.
Gaining a fuller understanding of the capabilities of the ocean ports and the logistics of transporting ag commodities to those is critical for making decisions about the movement of agricultural products, according to Sigman. “With some 60 percent of the grain exported moving by barge down the river system through some 65 river terminals, and with around 40 shuttle train loading facilities around Illinois able to access the coasts for ship-loading, it is important to keep current on the investments and developments across the wide range of logistics channels,” he said.
Sigman tagged along on the IFB-sponsored trip to learn more about the ag transportation pipeline and to better advise ISA officials and members on the most cost-efficient and reliable ways to move their products to export facilities. “With nearly every farmer being a grain trader at some level with their smart phone apps and elevators tracking real time CME or CBOT commodity prices, one of the real profit differentiators for our farmers can be the transportation movement decisions, and understanding which elevators are those through which to reach the port markets,” he said.
“Keeping up-to-date on the marketplace in that regard, and bringing that knowledge back to local Farm Bureau meetings and to discussions with colleagues, the general public as well as with local and state officials, can help Illinois production agriculture to stay competitive, adjusting and calibrating to the changes in the global marketplaces.”
A highlight for many of the farmers was their first glimpse at a transatlantic cargo or container vessel. The massive, imposing ships ringing the southeastern ports remained an impressive sight even for those who had seen them previously, Sigman recalled. “Each of us has their own experiences, but both the bulk and the container vessels were really impressive not only to some of the farmers, but to all of us,” he said.
The trip provided the participants the chance to witness what Southeast ports and export facilities are doing in the form of expansion projects to prepare for the future opening of the rebuilt Panama Canal. “All the ports are trying to optimize the available draft to move as much cargo as efficiently as possible for the coming of bigger ships,” said Sigman.
“There are many projections being made about what the impacts will be in 2015 when the construction project is expected to be finished. Illinois is in a strategic position to be able to react and redirect flows of goods by rail, waterway and local truck, to respond to the opportunities that arise.”
9/19/2014