may receive grain and oilseeds by rail for consumption purposes. For example, Arkansas receives large quantities of corn and wheat by rail but ships virtually none of these crops by rail. Arkansas also has no major export ports. However, Arkansas is the eighth largest producer of animals and poultry. Therefore, Arkansas may receive these grains for feed purposes. With the information presented here, movements of grain and oilseeds by rail throughout the United States are clearly described. When changes in the transportation system occur, or our transportation network is asked to adapt to unforeseen events, the information and data within this report will provide an expedient overview of what might be expected. If any questions or issues regarding railroads arise, hopefully the information collected in this analysis can help bring clarity to the situation, or at least provide relevant background information. Data and Methodology Data from the Surface Transportation Board's (STB) Confidential Waybill Samples 1 over the period 1996-2010 were used to measure grain and oilseed shipments by rail. The data were aggregated and sorted by a number of characteristics, the major categories being shipment origin, destination, and type of grain or oilseed. This information was then organized by origin and destination State. The data were also sorted by shipment size for each State, showing the relative frequencies of grain and oilseed shipments of different sizes. Data having less than 30 observations are excluded, as well as States having data for only 1 or 2 years of the 5-year period. Thus, the summary tables have differing numbers of States listed. Despite these precautions, States with relatively low volumes are more subject to year-to-year variation than are States with higher volumes due to the number of available observations used to calculate totals. This is a result of the sampling techniques used in the Waybill Samples. Thus, higher volumes are less likely to suffer from sampling limitations and be more representative of actual rail movements for any given year than are lower volumes. Grain Consuming Animal Units (GCAUs) were calculated for each State using information on animal populations and the levels of feed necessary to maintain the populations. These calculations included meat and poultry for consumption and production purposes. Cows, sheep, turkeys, hogs, and chickens were included. A grain consuming animal unit is a standard unit used to compare actual numbers of livestock and poultry. The standard unit is based on the dry-weight quantity of feed consumed by an average milk cow in the base year. Different rates are used to convert each type of livestock and poultry into the standard unit. GCAU units consumed are reported in the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) Feed Grains Yearbook, 2 but are only reported for the entire United States. Thus, the authors had to estimate the number of GCAU units consumed by each State. Cattle data were obtained from USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) pu...

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The share of the grain and oilseed harvest moved by rail has been declining since 1980, when the Federal Motor Carrier Act and the Staggers Rail Act were passed. Large structural changes associated with these acts affected the decline over the following two decades. Yet, even though the large structural changes had already taken place by 2000, the rail market share of grain and oilseed transportation has continued to decline. This paper develops a state-level statistical model for 21 of the top grain-producing states (which produce 86.6% of all grain and oilseeds) to investigate which major factors have been responsible for the decrease in the rail market share of grain and oilseed transportation since 2001. Twenty variables are tested in the model, and 10 are found to have a statistically significant impact on rail market share. Of these, three are most important in the decrease of rail market share: ethanol production, biodiesel production, and the concentration of animal feeding.

Executive SummaryU.S. soybean farmers depend on transportation as the critical link between their fields and markets here and abroad. Since the early 1990s, U.S. soybean farmers have been responding to world demand for more protein feed for the growing meat and poultry sectors in developing economies, especially China. This report examines transportation implications of the recent trends and outlook for U.S. soybeans.