Introduction
Along with trucks and barges, railroads play a key part in moving U.S. grains.
AAR shows that corn, soybeans, and wheat accounted for 577.9 million of the 606.5 million tons of grains produced in the U.S. in 2014. This article focuses on these 3 grains and leaves out others like barley, oats, rice, rye, and sorghum.
Before starting in on the rail segment, we take a look at the big picture involving production, exports, and the comparison of the 3 major types of movement (truck, rail, and barge).
We focus on the 4 biggest U.S. rails which are Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP), Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BRK.A) (BRK.B), CSX (NASDAQ:CSX), and Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC).
PNW is used for the Pacific Northwest.
Production Overview
Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Indiana were the top 5 producers for both corn and soybeans in 2014 although their order wasn't identical.
The U.S. produced a little over 14.2 billion bushels of corn in 2014. Iowa and Illinois led the country with over 2.3 billion bushels each. Next came Nebraska (1.6 billion), Minnesota (1.2 billion), and Indiana (1 billion).
Just over 4 billion bushels of soybeans for beans were produced in the U.S. in 2014. Illinois and Iowa were also the top soybeans for beans states in 2014 with 548 million and 506 million bushels each. They were followed by Indiana (307 million), Minnesota (305 million), and Nebraska (289 million).
Over 2 billion bushels of wheat were produced in the U.S. in 2014. North Dakota led the country in 2014 wheat production with 347 million bushels and was followed by Kansas (246 million), Montana (209 million), South Dakota (131 million), and Washington (108 million).
The above production numbers come from the USDA NASS 2014 Crop Production Summary with corn on page 9, soybeans on page 45, and wheat
