The meeting will be held at the Iowa Farm Bureau headquarters, in West Des Moines, on Friday, June 12, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Top officials from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDoT) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), state officials from the Iowa Department of Transportation (IDoT), executives from Union Pacific railroad company, managers of grain elevators, and leaders of farm and commodity groups in Iowa will be invited to the meeting.
Grassley said the meeting will be an important first step to averting potential shipping problems during harvest this fall. "It is important for the shippers and Union Pacific to meet on a regular basis, in good times and bad, in order to facilitate positive two-way communication. With good communication, shippers and the railroads will be able to move Iowa grain to market more efficiently," he said.
Grassley will ask officials from the USDoT's Intermodal Surface Transportation Board and the USDA to come to the meeting to brief participants on a new program being designed to help grain shippers facing potential grain car shortages. The Intermodal Surface Transportation Board is responsible for overseeing is charged with overseeing railroad mergers, a responsibility which had previously belonged to the Interstate Commerce Commission.
"This meeting is part of my ongoing effort to monitor grain transportation in Iowa," said Grassley. "It is important to be aware of challenges facing producers and shippers. Low prices have lead to farmers reserving grain in storage. This could present a problem at harvest time when the new crop is brought in."
In the past Grassley has convened meetings of concerned parties to discuss grain shipping issues. In 1996, Grassley cautioned top government officials about problems for agriculture that could result from the merger of Union Pacific (UP) and Southern Pacific (SP) railroads, and he rallied Iowa transportation officials to push Union Pacific to meet its shipping commitments in Iowa before the merger was approved by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Board.