Iowa Congressman David Young hosted an agricultural transportation round table in Des Moines yesterday. The goal was to identify the weakest links in the agricultural infrastructure system and to develop a comprehensive strategy for insuring farm goods get to market. Young says the meeting involved 40 stakeholders from various farm and commodity groups, the Governor’s office, and state and federal agencies.
Young says the transportation information state and federal agencies are requesting would help prevent some of the problems that slow agricultural goods moving to market, which hurts the ag economy.
He says some events are out of their control, like the slowdown of barge traffic this winter on the Mississippi River due to flooding. However, he says some of the deterioration of infrastructure has been a result of the lack of certainty in federal policy.
Young says investments also need to be made on the county and township levels to repair and maintain aging bridges and roads that are a vital part of the farm to market chain.
