The American Soybean Association (ASA) reiterated its top transportation and infrastructure priorities for soy growers this week in a letter to members of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee, as they consider the potential mark-up of a surface transportation reauthorization bill.

“As you may know, currently many farmers, especially in the northern plains region, are experiencing a severe and costly disruption in rail service that is costing many farmers tens of thousands of dollars and the cumulative effect on soybean farmers could total hundreds of millions or more nationwide,” said ASA President Ray Gaesser in the letter. “The current rail situation reinforces the importance of planning ahead and making necessary long-term investments in all modes of transportation capacity. Expanding trucking capacity and efficiency could assist in relieving the demand pressure on rail service and increasing competitiveness for the rail service sector. Increasing capacity and efficiency of waterways transportation is another important piece, and we commend you for your efforts to move a Water Resources Development Act toward final enactment that will free up funding for inland waterways infrastructure and dedicate more funding for port maintenance and dredging.”

Included in ASA’s transportation reauthorization bill priorities were: increasing revenue for the Highway Trust Fund to maintain and improve surface transportation infrastructure; maintaining exemption for agriculture regarding hours of service and an increase in truck weight limits as proposed in H.R. 612, the Safe and Efficient Transportation Act (SETA).