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Mississippi flooding has limited impact on grain movement

Flooding along the Mississippi River is having a limited impact on grain movement.

University of Minnesota Extension grain market economist Ed Usset suggests timing is a factor.

“The Mississippi River is very important to grain movement down to the Gulf. I think the good news is the export market is not exactly red hot right now, so that we probably have a little time to wait it out.”

He tells Brownfield the current situation on the river is better than last fall when the Mississippi was drying up.

“We couldn’t move anything for that reason. So I think we put up with (the flooding), it’s not an uncommon issue in the spring for the river to have difficulty moving barges on it because of swelling water. It will pass.”

Usset says while not looking closely, he suspects flooding has had a modest impact on basis prices on the Mississippi.