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Commodity group leader has high expectations for new infrastructure law

The leader of the Soy Transportation Coalition has high expectations for the recently passed infrastructure law.  Executive Director Mike Steenhoek tells Brownfield he’s pleased much of the road work will be handled locally. “A lot of that money will just be provided to the state departments of transportation, so you’re not creating a new bureaucracy, and so a lot of this work will be reimbursable to the state departments of transportation for roads and bridges.”

Steenhoek says many of the Mississippi River lock and dam projects have already been authorized and are ready to go as soon as they have money to begin. “Once these projects are actually announced in the early part of 2022, I think easily late into 2022, we could see some meaningful work being done on these lingering lock and dam projects that agriculture has been pining for for many years.”

Steenhoek says whether it’s the human error last year in the Suez Canal, cyber attacks on the colonial pipeline, or the I-40 bridge closure near Memphis, Americans are realizing that if something goes awry at one specific juncture, it can have profound effects across the country, and the investment is vital because the lock and dam system is vulnerable to shutdown with just one failure.

Steenhoek spoke to Brownfield during the recent National Association of Farm Broadcasting convention.