by Ben Nuelle
WEST DES MOINES ?Transportation and Agribusiness groups meet to discuss industry challenges and how to fix them. Iowa?s 3rd district congressman David Young hosted a transportation forum Monday at Iowa Farm Bureau in West Des Moines. Ag and transportation leaders shared concerns and solutions with Arthur Neal, Deputy Administrator of Transportation and Marketing at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Larry Minor, Associate Administrator for Policy at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration along with Iowa’s 3rd District Representative David Young.
Young says he hopes to take what he learned Monday back to Washington.
?Part of this was just to build relationships not only with USDA and Department of Transportation but Commodities groups, farm bureau, railway industry, waterway and the trucking folks as well. We just wanted to get a better understanding where everyone is coming from and how we can work together to move Iowa Agriculture forward to other markets and make sure transportation is part of the solution,? Young says.
He says Iowa is strategically positioned geographically with multiple modes of transportation.
?We have a road system and just finalized a five-year highway bill which gives certainty folks in our rural areas of getting commodities to the railways. Railways get them to the ports and sometimes we need to make sure our locks, dams, and levees are efficient and flowing down the Mississippi as well so we all work together in tandem. It?s a great thing to be from Iowa and leading the world in feeding and fueling and we have to make sure we get our commodities to market,? Young says.
Young adds we have to focus on feeding people not just nationally but internationally as well.
