By Jody Shee

Photo Credit: United Soybean Board  

The vitality of the U.S. soybean economy is inextricably linked to the condition of its inland waterways, its most efficient mode of transportation. Recognizing this critical dependency, the American Soybean Association and the United Soybean Board have worked and continue to work hand in hand with the Waterways Council and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Their urgent mission? Whether through industry matching dollars, direct federal support or other collective means, encouraging significant investment in our nation’s inland waterways to revitalize deteriorating infrastructure, particularly aged locks and dams.  

The compelling efforts of these groups led to the passage of the Federal 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), a $2.5 billion infrastructure package. Construction on several critical waterway projects included in the package, with the support of Congressional members representing users of these waterways, is well underway as a result. 

ASA’s advocacy efforts on behalf of soy growers who use the waterways to export their crop helped push lawmakers to allocate funds. And checkoff investments in the pre-engineering and design work for the projects through USB took them across the finish line to break ground. 

“There was something special about individual farmers who grow our crop explaining to their elected representatives the importance that their soy crop gets to where it needs to go—and that the locks and dams are an important key,” says Alexa Combelic, ASA director of government affairs. 

Of the projects approved for funded upgrades, Lock and Dam 25 stands apart as one of the most critical for the soy industry. “That one opened in 1939. It’s the most southern lock and dam currently on the Mississippi River system with a single chamber,” Combelic says. “Almost every bushel of soybeans transported on the Mississippi River from Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Missouri has to pass through 25.” Its limited, single-chamber capacity currently requires that barges must be separated to move through, which takes about two hours.  

An upgrade of the 600-foot chamber to include a new, adjacent 1,200-foot lock chamber would improve efficiency to about 45 minutes while also allowing two vessels to move through at once, meaning a key link in the supply chain would remain operational if one of the lock chambers is closed, says Gene Pawlik, spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The upgrades to Lock and Dam 25 are expected to be complete in 2036. 

While a positive step, passage of the IIJA is just the beginning of a long waterways infrastructure improvement journey. “The largest challenge is the need for additional funds to complete the projects,” Pawlik says. “The projects have experienced cost growth due to inflation. Additionally, significant ongoing construction nationwide has strained capacity for labor and materials.”  

Above the $2.5 billion already allocated, another $2.9 billion is required to complete the projects, says Tracy Zea, president and CEO of the Waterways Council. Thus, all eyes and new funding efforts have now turned to the 2024 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), in which ASA and other groups are asking Congress to provide additional support for the inland waterways.  

“Our ask for WRDA is to keep the intent of the infrastructure package, making the projects 100% federally funded,” says Zea. “This will allow the projects to be efficiently funded to get the locks online and operational, allowing the benefits to flow back to the economy.” He points out, however, that it literally takes an act of Congress—and this is an election year.  

The soybean industry will remain vigilant in its concerted support of waterways through funding and other means.