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State ag boss talks transportation needsBy Larry Dreiling Making Colorado's agricultural business climate competitive with other states is tops on the list of things John Stulp wants done as Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture. Completing his first year in the post, the Lamar veterinarian, farmer and rancher spoke at the recent Colorado Ag Classic, held at Fort Collins about issues like water and the health of rural communities, but Stulp mostly focused on transportation issues, as the prices producers receive are tied to transportation costs. "All farmers and ranchers will tell you that they get what's left after the transportation costs are paid for selling their products," Stulp said. "Our food processors will also tell you that their transportation costs are a major factor in deciding new plant locations or expanding capacity in Colorado versus other states." A recent study by his department showed Colorado farmers and ranchers need over 900,000 trucks and 32,000 rail cars to move their products from the field to the market, Stulp added. That includes the transportation from plant to market for the state's beef industry. "About 44,000 of the trucks in our 220,900 truck movements represent the trucks needed to move our beef from the Swift plant in Greeley and the Excel plant in Fort Morgan to their markets. That's over 120 trucks every day of the year," Stulp said. Moving grain On average, the Colorado grain harvest requires at least 536,000 trucks to bring the harvest in and about 32,000 rail cars to move the grain on to market. "This year our wheat farmers finally had a good harvest. In just July and August we needed an additional 5,200 rail cars plus the 3,500 from the previous year, to move the wheat sold in July and August," Stulp said. "Our wheat industry reports that 80 percent of all wheat harvested in Colorado is ultimately exported around the world, so moving our grains to ports is probably the greatest cost in marketing our grain. " Additionally, the state's vegetable growers need another 148,700 trucks to bring in the harvest and then ship it on to market. With all the many needs producers and processors have for moving products, the CDA study indicated the need for the ag industry to be competitive with neighboring states and countries. Neighboring states can load up to 29 percent more in their trucks than can trucks in Colorado, Stulp said, and that increased transit times for farmers and ranchers both in bringing in the crops and going to market results whenever state government fails to repair bridges in rural counties. "The San Luis Valley is the fifth largest potato-growing region in the U.S.," Stulp said. "Not only do we need over 56,000 truck movements to bring the potatoes out of the field, but our industry needs up to 44,000 semis to come in empty to the valley empty and out with our potatoes to their customers, including the 1,100 truck loads to our Mexican customers." Comparisons Competing states and countries have access to higher capacity trucks, Stulp said, and the largest ag transport challenge is finding the trucks to come to the valley and move products to market. "Canadian trucks can haul 97,000 pounds on three-axle trucks versus Colorado trucks that carry 80,000 pounds on five axles. That means, in Canada, they can use 20 percent fewer trucks to haul the same quantity of products," Stulp said. The Dairy Farmers of America cooperative reports that moving their milk around Colorado and into our plants is more expensive in Colorado than in Idaho and Utah because of permitted truck options in Idaho and Utah that are not available in Colorado. "This impacts more than just the farmers. When a cheese processor has plants in multiple states and is considering expanding a plant's capacity, the cost of having the raw milk delivered is a critical component of that decision," Stulp said. "Within in 2006 Colorado the DFA made 9,478 trips for a total of 296,000 miles to move Colorado milk. Utilizing the full capacity of the trucks as in Utah and Idaho would have reduced 2,482 trips and eliminated 77,810 miles of expenses. This also translates to fewer trucks on Colorado's highways." Stulp continued with the story of Western Sugar, as Colorado's sugar beet growers created a coop with growers in Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana to maintain the sugar beet industry in these states. The co-op has plants in Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana as well as in Colorado. "This farmer owned group has reported that in past years they have considered transporting raw beets from surrounding states to the Colorado plant, which would have added jobs to Ft. Morgan, only to review the transportation cost and limits in Colorado and opt to ship the beets to other states," Stulp said. "Again, the Colorado regulations have placed our Colorado farmers and processing plants at a competitive disadvantage with our neighboring states. "Remember what I said earlier. The farmer receives what's left after the transportation is paid. It makes me ask if Colorado jobs will be lost or will new jobs put in other states because of our current transportation regulations." Legal changes ahead Stulp said there is discussion within the Colorado Department of Transportation to propose new regulations to address this competitive issue on load weights in the 2008 session. A critical element of this option is that all permits would be route specific and could not cross the state's compromised bridges. "It is critical that we as a state fix the bridges of Colorado so that our farmers and ranchers and food processors do not face bridge detours in moving their goods to market," Stulp said. "About one-third of the 116 bridges rated as 'poor' in Colorado are in the state's rural areas." CDOT also has reported that Colorado lost 33 percent of its Class 1 railroads from 2001 to 2004. In planning Colorado's transportation infrastructure, it is critical that rail lines be maintained, Stulp said. "There have been federal hearings looking into the challenges of captive shippers that effect our grain movement. If you need trucks you can always call several truckers for quotes, but your rail line means you deal with a single rail provider," Stulp said. "Remember that the train represents the most fuel efficient--think carbon footprint--way to move these products. A rail car will often replace up to four or five trucks for each rail car movement, and we have 32,000 rail car movements in 2006 that kept over 130,000 additional trucks off the road," Stulp said. "A national issue" Putting fewer, larger more efficient, trucks on improved roads is a state and national issue, one that affects more than just agriculture," Stulp said. "Anyone who produces and ships products whether to markets within Colorado or to other states or countries have been impacted by the reduced number of trucks available for hire," Stulp said. "We hope that Colorado will work to make our state competitive in the cost of trucking, increase our load options, maintain our state and county roads as well as repair and maintain our bridges. The challenge, of course, is how to pay for these infrastucture improvements. "We need the bridges repaired and maintained, our roads repaired and maintained and the costs of this work must be managed to keep Colorado competitive with our neighboring states," Stulp said. "We hope that the legislature will address the issues surrounding the need to allow our industry to be competitive with our neighboring states in shipping options and create a strong transportation industry in the state." Larry Dreiling can be reached by phone at 785-628-1117 or by e-mail at ldreiling@aol.com. 1/7/08 Date: 1/2/08
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