Search - The Packer

Rural infrastructure costs farmers time, fuel and safety.

Missouri farmers use the Canton Ferry to transport grain across the Mississippi River to an elevator in Meyer, Ill.

Facing our challenges to guarantee our competitive edge

A recent study shows that farmers, more than any other segment of agriculture, are responsible for paying the transportation costs from the farm to the dinner plate.

Co-op investment tightens basis, but venture is not risk-free.

Truck rates are running well below a year ago and most U.S. fresh produce shipping districts had adequate to surplus truck availability in late May.

Truck rates moved strongly higher in south Texas and Arizona in early June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports.

The delays have stretched dangerously close to grain harvesting season, when barges need to carry wheat, soybeans and corn from throughout the Midwest down to the Gulf Coast for export.

The company posted a 12 percent drop in fiscal fourth- quarter profit as its trading and processing business continued to feel the effects of drought in the U.S. and a shortage of railcars.

Since farmers’ profits are dropping this year alongside crop prices, bridge-infrastructure needs have come into sharper focus.