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CHANGING RIVER<br />
NAVIGATING A<br />
CHANGING<br />
RIVER<br />
High and low water levels leave farmers a little seasick<br />
BY SARA MILLHOUSE<br />
EASTERN IOWA FARMER<br />
Mississippi River levels<br />
have fluctuated wildly<br />
in recent years, causing<br />
consternation for farmers<br />
trying to market grain<br />
and forecast costs for next year’s inputs.<br />
In 2022, low water on the Lower<br />
Mississippi snarled barge traffic and<br />
reduced loads, practically doubling barge<br />
rates for farmers briefly in the fall. The<br />
river reached record lows near Memphis,<br />
Tenn., and elsewhere.<br />
This year saw spring flooding, followed<br />
by worrisome low water that<br />
threatens a repeat of 2022. In August,<br />
river levels at St. Louis were lower than<br />
they were at this time last year.<br />
“It seems like we go right from flood to<br />
no water in the last two years,” said lockmaster<br />
Brad Hank, of LeClaire’s Lock<br />
and Dam No. 14. “You just never know.”<br />
Along with dredging in low spots, the<br />
U.S. Corps of Engineers’ lock and dam<br />
system has kept commercial shipping in<br />
business on the Upper Mississippi since<br />
lock and dam construction in the 1930s.<br />
However, this system is still subject to<br />
the vagaries of flooding and low water,<br />
slowing the transport of grain to international<br />
markets.<br />
Sydney Heims has seen the impacts of<br />
both low and high water in her work as a<br />
grain origination specialist with Cargill,<br />
which has regional elevators along the<br />
eifarmer.com FALL 2023 | EASTERN IOWA FARMER 75<br />
<strong>Eastern</strong>Iowa<strong>Farmer</strong>_South_Fall2023.indd 75<br />
9/19/23 3:35 PM
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