The opportunity to break bread with a Cabinet secretary is a rare one. Among a dozen leaders who shared a breakfast table with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg , four were leaders representing the Wisconsin Soybean Program (WSP).
“You couldn’t hide if you wanted to,” joked Matt Rehberg, treasurer of the Wisconsin Soybean Association (WSA). “It was just a great one-on-one conversation with the secretary.”
Rehberg was joined by WSA Vice President Doug Rebout and Wisconsin Soybean Marketing Board (WSMB) Secretary/Treasurer Jonathan Gibbs. With them was Nancy Kavazanjian, who represents Wisconsin on the United Soybean Board. During the meeting, WSP and industry stakeholders engaged with Sec. Buttigieg on several ag-related infrastructure issues. These included improvements to roads and bridges; the Mississippi River; and diversifying market access via the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System.
Rebout said farmers established a quick rapport with Sec. Buttigieg, who was in Wisconsin promoting the Biden administration’s infrastructure investments from the bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act.
“He connected to our industry and really, in particular, he understood our challenges,” Rebout said. “We didn’t have to explain much to him. He knew the issues and asked good questions. We got our points across, and we each got to tell our own stories and how different things are affecting us.”
Following the hour-long conversation, Buttigieg toured Port Milwaukee and the DeLong Co.’s export facility, which was awarded a $9 million grant from the IRA. The $40 million facility, located on the west side of Jones Island, will be one of the first on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System to handle various agricultural commodities. This will be via truck, rail and international vessel, including dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGs).
This facility will open Wisconsin’s maritime and agricultural economies to new international markets. Future service at the facility could include exports for Wisconsin-grown soybeans, corn and grain.
“The new agricultural maritime export facility that opened last summer is already helping farmers from across the heartland sell their product around the world,” Sec. Buttigieg said. “Expanding the capacity by more than 1.3 million bushels a year means more American farmers can sell their excellent product to the world through this port.”
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation estimates the DeLong terminal will generate $63 million in new statewide economic impact annually, increasing exports through Port Milwaukee by as much as 400,000 metric tons per year. Farmer leaders from WSP will tour the facility in early August during WSMB’s first-ever See For Yourself tour.
“Right now, they can only handle basically one product at a time,” Rehberg said. “Their expansion is going to allow them to handle multiple products at the same time, so that’ll increase the potential of that port dramatically.”
The event also included Randy Romanski, secretary of the Wisconsin Secretary of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection; Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson; Port of Milwaukee Director Jackie Q. Carter and Tom Bressner, executive director of the Wisconsin Agri-Business Association.
“To have WSA and WSMB be able to visit with the secretary and have a seat at the table is just amazing,” said WSA President Sara Stelter, who was invited but unable to attend. “Together, we’re helping to put the Port of Milwaukee on the map.”
DISCLAIMER: Nancy Kavazanjian, who’s a Wisconsin farmer and United Soybean Board Director, participated in the discussion to share details about DeLong’s Climate-Smart Commodities program, through USDA, and the checkoff’s role in infrastructure investments. United Soybean Board has strict guidelines that information is provided for educational purposes and is not intended to influence legislation or government policy or action.
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