News

Port of Catoosa helping Great Plains

The executive director of the Tulsa Ports says the inland waterway system provides a cost-effective option for farmers to transport ag commodities.

“The fact that we’re there competing with those rail rates keeps those rail rates lower.”

David Yarbrough says the Port of Catoosa, in northeast of Tulsa, allows farmers in the Great Plains to ship fertilizer, corn, soybeans and soybean meal to and from  the Gulf of Mexico.

“They enjoy that benefit of low-cost transportation because the waterway is here. If you look at a map there’s no other waterway that reaches the center of the country, that’s open year round. We’ve never been closed to due to ice. A lot of the northern rivers close in the wintertime due to ice so in the winter time we even reach markets further out.”

Northeast Kansas farmer Scott Gigstad tells Brownfield lower transportation costs can help improve margins.

“If we can utilize water transportation to either bring inputs in like fertilizer more cheaply than rail or truck, that’s rubbing some pennies together, and we’ll take advantage of that.”

Yarbrough says imports of crop protection tools and crop nutrients have impacted at least 20 states throughout the Corn Belt.

Brownfield interviewed both during the Kansas Soybean Summer Industry Tour.