Lack of Funding for U.S. Internal Waterways System Threatens to Damage Agricultural Production and Shipping
By Ben Thrower
The rivers all funnel down through one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world to the Lower Mississippi River and exit into the Gulf of Mexico south of New Orleans. The area of southern Louisiana extending from Baton Rouge, through New Orleans, and all the way to Myrtle Grove handles over 57% of all U.S. exports of corn, which in 2017 was valued at $4.8 billion and almost 60% of U.S. soybean exports, which were worth almost three times as much at $12.4 billion in the same year.