Farmers support rail antitrust repeal

NITL (The National Industrial Transportation League) -- Logistics Management, 9/2/2008

The American Farm Bureau Federation, known as the “voice of agriculture,” said it has dispatched letters to House and Senate lawmakers urging them to sign on as co-sponsors of legislation that would eliminate antitrust exemptions for the freight rail industry.

The Farm Bureau described the Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act as legislation that would make obsolete antitrust exemptions “that protect freight railroads from competition and therefore keep rail rates artificially and unfairly high.”

According to a news release, Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman said in his letter to legislators: “American agriculture depends on the railroad system, especially given the high costs of shipping commodities via truck. Like those in several other industries, agricultural producers are frequently captive rail customers and experience both unreliable service and exorbitantly high rates from the railroads.”

Stallman said passage of antitrust enforcement legislation is vital before Congress completes its business this year.

“Farmers all across America rely on reasonably priced rail service to deliver their crops to market. Freight railroads must be opened to fair and open competition so that prices for shipping agriculture commodities via rail can be fair and reasonable,” Stallman said.