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Farmer says infrastructure investments provide competitive edge

Continued infrastructure investments in the U.S. are critical to competition in the global market, according to Indiana Soybean Alliance Chair Mike Koehne.

“We always talk about updating, improving, and doing maintenance on locks and dams, inland waterways, rural roads and bridges, and the rail system,” he says. “We’re always trying to have (the administration) hopefully improve that because that’s our competitive edge. We can ship grains easily and efficiently throughout our country.”

A group of Indiana farmers, including Koehne, observed Argentina’s ag infrastructure and transportation during a recent trip to the country.

“Most of their crops are shipped by truck down here,” he says. “When we were in Buenos Aires, we saw that they had a separate truck lane for the trucks going to port, which was very convenient and kept it out of the local traffic.”

He says Argentina has some transportation challenges.

“Their infrastructure is nothing like ours,” he says. “I think we’ve surpassed them with our inland waterways, rail, and transporting grain. I feel that we’ve definitely surpassed them in that aspect.”

The trip took place Jan. 21-29. The farmers also observed how the current crop is growing and learned about the technology used to raise it.