(NAFB) – The recent run of below-zero temperatures has been hard on farm country. It’s also made it hard to ship commodities from farm country to their eventual destinations. Mike Steenhoek is Executive Director of the Soy Transportation Coalition. He says the unusually long cold snap is slowing things down.

Smaller train units for transportation mean it takes longer to move the same amount of agricultural freight, making the system less economical and efficient.

The weather has also been hard on the inland waterway system. The Upper Mississippi River system is typically closed from December through March. However, shipping along the Illinois River has slowed down quite a bit because the channels of open water are much narrower than usual due to ice that forms along the shore and stretches out to the middle of the rivers.

He says the freezing weather also makes it hard for barges to safely get through the locks and dams along the main rivers.

The other big challenge in cold weather is keeping workers in the transportation system safe.