Opinion: A safe freight rail system is critical to Iowa agriculture

By Aaron Wendel

Iowa agriculture leader

Iowa plays a critical role in feeding the world by serving as a global agriculture powerhouse. Our state’s ecosystem connects farmers to the international market, producing essential food ingredients, animal feed and other vital industrial products.

Raised on a fifth-generation farm in Jasper County – from diversified row-crow and livestock operations, our family has helped play a role in Iowa’s agriculture ecosystem. From this lived experience, I know firsthand that our ability to get Iowa goods to the producers, manufacturers, and ultimately consumers around the world depends on a safe and reliable freight rail system.

As an Iowa farmer who works closely with companies that rely/utilize freight rail, I see that connection every day. A study from the Iowa Department of Transportation found that agricultural products, from farm to food to chemical commodities, represent approximately 85 percent of the tonnage leaving Iowa by freight. Moving this volume by truck would require more than one million additional semitractor-trailers on our roads.

This essential freight network that we depend on has been hit hard by increasing criminal activity the past few years. Rising theft throughout the freight rail system, driven by sophisticated criminal networks, threatens America’s supply chain and raises costs on consumers if left unchecked.

Class 1 railroads along, the largest serving America’s supply chain, have reported a 40 percent year-over-year increase in cargo theft incidents. Last year alone, an estimated 65,000 thefts against these carriers cost more than $100 million, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR). Regional railways feel similar impacts.

To help address the escalating threat to our supply chain, our very own Senator Chuck Grassley introduced the bipartisan Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA) in Congress. The bill would establish the Organized Retail and Supply Chain Crime Coordination Center, designed to unite federal law enforcement with state and local police forces to combat supply chain challenges and threats. Additionally, the bill would strengthen communication, improve data and information sharing, and upgrade investigative tools, enabling authorities to better identify and dismantle the criminal networks harming our economy and supply chains.

America’s aging freight rail system poses other risks to Iowa agriculture. Along with addressing crime, we must modernize rail infrastructure, improve efficiency, reliability and most importantly - safety. Adopting a blended inspection strategy that combines Automated Track Inspection (ATI), also known as Track Geometry Measurement Systems (TGMS), with established manual inspections would lead to safer railways. This approach would also improve the efficiency of inspections, minimize and reduce risk on the tracks, and maintain and support reliable freight service nationwide. For example, automated and balanced systems can detect defects invisible to the human eye.

I extend my gratitude to Senator Grassley for championing his CORCA initiative and respectfully ask other leaders to prioritize the safety and security of our railway infrastructure. The combination of a modern and updated inspection standard and coordination and communication improvements to address and prevent organized crime will provide a path forward for Iowa’s continued agriculture success. This dual approach will safeguard our railroads and rail workers, fortify our fleets and supply chain, and provide support to the Iowa farmers and manufacturers who rely on it.

Aaron Wendel is a passionate advocate for the agriculture industry, raised on a diversified farm in Central Iowa, His early and continued experience comes through his family’s fifth generation diversified row-crop and livestock operation (Hogs/Cattle); with him owning the cattle portion today. He is an active participant with Agribusiness Association of Iowa, Ag Retailers Association, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Grain and Feed Association and National Pork Producer’s Council. A graduate of Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Science in Transportation & Logistics and Marketing, Aaron built a career spanning logistics, risk management, and agricultural production. Today, Aaron serves with Marsh, the world’s largest insurance broker, where he helps businesses manage risk and strengthen operational resilience.