ANKENY, Iowa — The first Agricultural Transportation Summit was a resounding success, bringing together lawmakers, industry leaders, state transportation officials and others to discuss real, attainable solutions to the nation’s transportation infrastructure problems, according to one of the event sponsors.

“The conference did a really good job in bringing together many of the thought leaders and advocates for rural and agricultural transportation issues. It was very much a dialogue-type environment and not a speaker-audience (dynamic),” said Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition (STC).

The STC co-hosted the summit, titled “A Modern Infrastructure for Modern Agriculture,” with the National Grain & Feed Assoc. (NGFA) on July 30-31 in Rosemont, Ill.

“We wanted to make sure the summit provided a venue for advancing a number of solutions to some of these problems. The temptation is to hold a conference and express the problems for the umpteenth time and bemoan the fact that solutions have been elusive. We didn’t want that type of conference,” Steenhoek said.

The goals were to raise the awareness of the importance of transportation to the success and profitability of American agriculture, and to build bridges between government and agricultural interests to promote ag transportation issues. Topics included maritime, rail and surface transportation issues, including infrastructure improvements.

“We discussed the need for better management of our rural bridges so that (funding) is used more efficiently, and farmers have better access to them. We looked at the pros and cons of public-private partnerships for the inland waterways system. We discussed an investment tax credit for the rail industry, and how it would be a great benefit to rural America,” Steenhoek reported.

“And we were very happy to have three directors of state departments of transportation, from Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois, as a panel. We talked about how some of these solutions are to be found not only on the federal level, but at the state level. (States) can be much more innovative and entrepreneurial in addressing some of these issues.

“When you deal with state departments, there is a higher likelihood that they will be responsive to the needs of their agricultural constituency than the federal government has proven to be, unfortunately,” he added.

Container shipping of agricultural products was addressed from the perspectives of grain handlers, railroads and ocean carriers, with a special panel examining the issue. “We wanted to highlight this growing trend. It’s still a small percentage of overall soybean exports – only 5 to 7 percent – but it is a growing segment and our customers are increasingly telling us they want to ship via container,” Steenhoek explained.

“One of the virtues is that it really provides a more localized supply chain in the midst of a global economy,” he said, adding container shipping would have provided greater traceability of the genetically modified wheat recently found in an Oregon wheat field.

A public-private funding mechanism for waterway infrastructure repair and expansion contained in the Senate’s Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) was supported by many of the conference attendees. The House has yet to unveil its WRDA proposal, though Steenhoek expects it sometime after the House returns from  August’s Congressional recess.

“Some of the leading proponents of the public-private partnership are members of the House on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, particularly members of the Illinois delegation, so there will certainly be an effort to include (the public-private waterway infrastructure partnership) in the House version,” he said.

‘We think that there is a real virtue in exploring the potential for this, but we also need to make sure we don’t have blinders on. Oftentimes when you institute those kind of arrangements, there are tradeoffs. We may learn that private equity is only feasible in certain segments. We can’t assume that because we involve the private sector, the whole system is suddenly going to be better.”

In examining rail issues, panelists and attendees focused in part on recent attention to freight rail antitrust law exemptions expressed by members of Congress and the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB).

“The probability of Congress addressing the antitrust exemption is quite low, but there was a bit of healthy discussion about the process by which ag customers seek either rate relief or (grievance resolution). It centered a lot on the fees they have to pay to institute a rate case and the amount of relief that can be rewarded if you prevail in that case,” said Steenhoek.

“A lot of grain handlers have come to the conclusion in the past that it is not worth challenging the railroads, and we want to make sure that process and compensation is more in line with the overcharge or uncompetitive practice. There is a difference of opinion on that, however.”

Summit speakers included Republican Rep. Rodney Davis of Illinois; Daniel Elliott. chair of the STB; Maria Sanchez, executive vice president for planning and business development for the Panama Canal Authority; and Marcelo Monteiro, an expert on transportation investment in Brazil and executive director of Aprosoja.