There may not seem to be much connection between farms and dredging harbors and channels but included in that twenty-three-billion dollar water bill are long over due projects that will help barges get through locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi River.
Casey Langan at the Farm Bureau Federation says nearly sixty per cent of international trade goes down river from Wisconsin. That's why he says the override is important to the state's fifty-one billion dollar ag industry.
Langan says it's been seven years since a water project bill has been passed and some upgrades are sorely needed. Langan says barges are getting bigger and trying to get through existing locks slows down movement of the product.
But the bill only authorizes the projects. Now Congress needs to appropriate the money to fund the work. That could be a little tougher to get through.
AUDIO: Jim Dick reports ( :59 MP3 )
