The mighty Mississippi River cuts the United States essentially in half from Northern Minnesota all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. It has a lot of history and romance around its waters, and is also one of America’s most important routes for commerce. More than 1 trillion pounds of goods travel down the river each year.
But, as water levels have dropped significantly in key parts of the river, it’s stopped some ships cold. The river is now backed up with billions of dollars of corn, wheat, fertilizer and steel, waiting for water levels to rise again. What happens when one of the most important rivers in the world’s largest economy can’t keep a boat afloat?
Michael Hirtzer, an agriculture reporter for Bloomberg in Chicago, joins this episode to answer that question. Wes also checks in with Captain E. Michael Bopp, a Mississippi River pilot and President of the Crescent River Port Pilot Association, and Clint Willson, Director of the LSU Center for River Studies,. for more on what it’s like to work on and study this critical river.
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