Author: Sam Anderson
Montana Grain in the Great Lakes
Montana certainly ships durum and spring wheat to Duluth for export. Higher crop volumes in 2019 and 2020 warranted more grain headed east. Mainly durum, European purchases can frequently be the destination. If the gales of November don’t come early, there is a good chance some of the 2023 durum crop will be loaded on vessels 700 miles east of the Montana Border. In Eastern Montana, Duluth is the closest export terminal, 400 miles closer than Portland.
Queue Gordon Lightfoot
I am thankful for Gordon Lightfoot’s songwriting; Canada’s legend will not be forgotten.
I was raised in the ’90s in central Minnesota. In the middle of corn and dairy country, surrounded by farming and great lake culture. Often my parents would be blasting Gordon Lightfoot’s greatest hits while doing some spring cleaning, fishing off the dock in Wisconsin, or fixing up a 1950s international utility tractor. Gordon Lightfoot’s songs of Edmond Fitzgerald, rolling rivers, railroads, heading to Alberta, and summertime certainly sparked my young interest in commodity logistics and the rich history of the great lakes.
Canada’s greatest singer and songwriter played an influence my interest in an Agriculture career. I spent time living near the Sault Ste Marie Locks in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Unlike the train horns we have come accustomed to in Montana, coastal great lake towns get to enjoy shipping vessel horns which are much more pleasant yet louder. The shipping culture in the Great Lakes is something everyone needs to see; citizens gather to celebrate the start of the shipping season. Hardcore fans even track their favorite vessels and go out to watch them pass by with a wave. The shipping route of Montana Durum via Duluth is one of the most beautiful routes in North America. Lighthouses, untouched cliff-side pictographs, sandy beaches as far as the eye can see, and hobby longboats traveling the route. This region will always be dear to my heart.
