Midwestern Wheat Left Rotting as Oil Trains Roll By

U.S. grain shipments are being held up as trains carrying huge quantities of Bakken oil chug through the region, the New York Times reported Tuesday, illustrating how the booming business of moving oil by rail has negative consequences beyond safety risks.

According to the Times:

Such backlogs lead to canceled orders from food companies as well as rotting product, Ron Nixon writes for the Times, especially in a year like this one, which is expected to produce record yields. A study completed earlier this year by North Dakota State University at the request of Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) concluded that the state’s farmers could lose more than $160 million as wheat, corn, and soybean backlogs cause prices to fall.

And the problem stretches throughout the entire region. Another study, cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in comments submitted to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board—which regulates this form of transport—this month, showed that rail delays have cost Minnesota grain farmers about $100 million.