Alan Barrett is the Director of Research and Consulting for HIgby Barrett LLC. He is an accomplished commodity economist with more than 25 years of experience in futures and cash markets with a focus on cotton, commodity projects, non-traditional agricultural products, transportation and supply chain studies. Alan spent six years as a commodity futures broker. His expertise encompasses feasibility studies of oilseed crushing plants (soybean canola, and cottonseed), grain elevators, export elevators, shuttle elevators, grain container operations, flourmills and other processing facilities. Alan also has conducted transportation supply chain studies for grains, oilseeds, fertilizer, coal, natural gas, crude oil, and petroleum products. Alan has considerable experience in non-traditional agricultural products such as coal, coke, natural gas, chemicals, hydraulic fracturing fluid, hydraulic fracturing proppants, glycerin, fertilizer, micronutrients, salt, limestone, cement, iron ore, pig iron, and steel, especially feed ingredients. Mr. Barrett has a BS and MS in Agricultural Economics from the University of Tennessee.
Truck Rates Declining in 2019
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Grain Transportation Report indicates trucking cost per ton is down almost 9%, which is a welcome change from the…
Crop Barge Movements Not Shifting to Rail
Lock and Dam 27 at Granite City, Illinois is below where the Illinois River joins the Mississippi River but above St. Louis, Missouri. In addition…
Ocean Bulk Fleet Expanding
Second quarter 2019 ocean freight rates for shipping bulk grains were lower than last year, but 4 percent higher than the first quarter. Despite the…
Crushing Business Expansion Provides Positive News for U.S. Soybean Farmers
The expansion of Perdue’s crushing business is good news for U.S. soybean farmers. Perdue, known primarily for its chicken business, has diversified into many areas…
River Conditions Continue to Challenge U.S. Soy Exports
According to The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Center for Environmental Information, the first five months of 2019 saw the most precipitation since…
Planned Crushing Plants to Take Advantage of U.S. Soy’s Expanding Footprint
As the Corn Belt has expanded north and west, the availability of soybeans has increased in areas devoid of local soybean crushing. In many of…
Truck Capacity Availability Improving in 2019
American Trucking Associations (ATA) estimates the U.S. has approximately 3.5 million Class 8 trucks dispatched by over 210,000 trucking companies transporting 16.18 billion tons of…
Infrastructure Investment Helps Keep U.S. Soy Shipping Costs Down
Few public investments provide more economic development than a public port. For example, operating as the major grain logistics tenant at the Port of Greater…
Dry Barge Fleet Consolidation
Over the near term, the U.S. Coast Guard, due to flood conditions, has reduced barge tow configurations from St. Louis, Missouri to the Gulf, which…
River Elevator Swap Limits Competition
Illinois farmers are fortunate to have six options at harvest. The farmers can deliver directly to a soybean crushing facility, shuttle elevator, river elevator, container…