For the third year in a row, the Mississippi River is experiencing low water levels during harvest season. In the spring and early summer, precipitation and water levels were quite robust.
Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition, says once the calendar moved past mid-July, precipitation declined significantly, which caused a steady and dramatic decrease in water levels. There was a brief rise in water levels near Memphis after Hurricane Helene, but once the surge of water passed through the system, those water levels quickly returned to where they were earlier.
“In certain areas of the river, we’re seeing several feet of draft reductions due to the low water,” Steenhoek says. “For each foot of draft reduction on the river, each barge carries 7,000 fewer bushels of soybeans, which is roughly 200 tons.”
The draft is the distance between the waterline and the lowest part of the hull. Steenhoek added that “depending on the location in the river, tow sizes are being reduced from 10-15% at minimum and upwards of 30-40%. What makes barge transportation so economical is the ability to load individual barges with significant volumes of freight while attaching many barges together to form a flotilla or tow. Low water conditions on the river attack both of these features.”
Unfortunately, low water levels on the Mississippi River have an affect on producer profitability at a time when the ag economy is already at a low point and margins are getting squeezed significantly.
