A lock failure would hurt U.S. farmers who use the waterways to ship their products and also U.S. consumers who eventually buy those products. In addition, farmers and consumers would see prices for fuel and coal increase.
Visit http://www.unitedsoybean.org/americas-locks-dams-a-ticking-time-bomb-for-agriculture/ to view a map that shows what a lock failure could do to farmers in your area.
The new, interactive map was recently developed by the soy checkoff to make information about this critical issue more accessible as well as more specific to local areas.
That information was compiled recently in soy-checkoff-funded research that shows the importance of the U.S. inland waterway system to U.S. soybean farmers. According to the checkoff's most recent study, U.S. waterways make a staggering impact on U.S. farmers' bottom lines as well as on the price U.S. consumers pay for food. The new, interactive map shows the effect a failure at each of five locks on the Ohio, Mississippi and Illinois rivers would have on U.S. soybean and corn prices.