Full Circle Ag manager Dave Andresen sitting in for Brown County farmer Dennis Jones testified last week at the Surface Transportation Board Hearing in the nation’s capital.  He says the rail car shortage is not going to get any better in the near future and will have a big impact on fertilizer shipments this spring particularly with Urea which is used for corn planting.

Andresen says by that time it’s too late for corn planting and will likely lead to more farmers shifting over to seeding soybeans. He says both railroad and STB officials indicated there’s nothing they can do about the rail car shortage and won’t be able to shift rail cars from other uses over to agriculture.

Andresen says STB officials also told him the chances of getting a Presidential Executive order to help solve the rail crisis is not likely. He says rail officials testified it was bad weather that has kept them from providing enough rail cars for agriculture and is not connected to oil development in the Bakken fields.