President Donald Trump touted the need for rebuilding the nation?s infrastructure Tuesday night.
Mike Steenhoek is Executive Director of the Soy Transportation Coalition. It?s a group of 13 state soybean boards focusing on the benefits of transportation. Steenhoek was happy with President?s tone regarding infrastructure.
?We were very encouraged to hear the president mention the I word, infrastructure in a very prominent address. There are a lot times presidents don?t mention the need to invest in infrastructure during the state of the union or address to congress.?
He says but there are challenges moving forward.
?The challenge for agriculture moving forward is to make sure the infrastructure projects and the links in our logistics chain work its way into his priority list. That remains the challenge. There is too much of an urban bias on transportation and we want to make sure the Ag prospective is incorporated into his decision making.?
Steenhoek says Trump needs to be reminded the reason he is president. Its that rural America elected him.
?I think it is also being able to sing off his song sheet. He likes to talk about is winning in the international marketplace. I think the suggestion that needs to be made to him is that agriculture is an industry that has won in the international marketplace for decades, but that is not going to continue if we do not have an infrastructure up to the task.?
Steenhoek attended Commodity Classic in San Antonio Thursday.
