USB Releases Interactive Map Showing Lock Failures

By CnAgri2012-10-30 19:25:04 Print

Many of the locks in the U.S. inland waterway system are past their usable lifespan and, even worse, for years have not been maintained as they should have been. According to the United Soybean Board, a lock failure would hurt U.S. farmers who use the waterways to ship their products and also U.S. consumers who eventually buy those products. In addition, farmers and consumers would see prices for fuel and coal increase.

As a result, a new, interactive map was recently developed by the soy checkoff to make information about this critical issue more accessible as well as more specific to local areas.

The information for the project was compiled recently in soy-checkoff-funded research that shows the importance of the U.S. inland waterway system to U.S. soybean farmers.

According to the checkoff's most recent study, U.S. waterways make a staggering impact on U.S. farmers' bottom lines as well as on the price U.S. consumers pay for food.

The new, interactive map shows the effect a failure at each of five locks on the Ohio, Mississippi and Illinois rivers would have on U.S. soybean and corn prices.

The map can be found at: unitedsoybean.org/americas-locks-dams-a-ticking-time-bomb-for-agriculture