March 19, 2002

For Immediate Release:

Contact: Mark Muller, 612-0870-3420

Ben Lilliston, 612-870-3416

Minneapolis – The Army Corps of Engineers continues to over-estimate grain exports in order to justify the highly controversial Lock and Dam expansion project on the Mississippi River, says the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.

The Corps’ proposal to expand the Mississippi River Locks and Dam system has been embroiled in controversy over the last several years. The Corps has argued that the expansion project is needed because traffic on the Mississippi will increase in the coming years with projected increases in farm exports from the Midwest. But two Corps economists have publicly testified that they were pressured to change economic studies which showed that such projections were overblown and the project wasn’t needed.

Tonight, in Bloomington, Minnesota, the Corps will present its revised forecasts. The meeting will take place at the Ramada Inn Minneapolis Airport, 2500 E. 79^th Street. It will include two open houses, from 1-3 pm, and 5-6:30 pm. The Corps’ formal presentation will take place at 6:30 pm.

The Corps’ latest forecasts follow virtually the same upward slope as the previously discredited versions, and in the case of soybeans the new projections are actually higher than previous estimates.

"It’s remarkable that the Corps is presenting virtually the same forecasts in yet another attempt to get taxpayers to fund this project," says Mark Muller, director of IATP’s Environment and Agriculture Program. "These forecasts continue to ignore a number of important factors that have created the current glut of grains on the world market, and limited U.S. exports."

According to Muller, the report ignores factors such as: the explosion of soybean production in Brazil and Argentina; the continuing shutdown of export markets related to controversies over genetically engineered crops; the impacts of climate change; and the historical downward slope of exports for several commodities including corn.

"How can you possibly attempt to project soybean exports without considering what is happening in Brazil?" asks Muller, who just returned from a tour of Brazil farms. "The same agribusiness companies pushing for changes on the Mississippi are already down in Brazil exporting crops onto the world market and competing with U.S. farmers."

Over the last two years, IATP has issued a series of reports looking at how the Lock and Dam expansion project would impact farmers and the environment.

The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy promotes resilient family farms, rural communities and ecosystems around the world through research and education, science and technology, and advocacy.

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