(The Associated Press circulated the following on April 2, 2010.)
HELENA, Mont. — Montana’s wheat farmers will have to pay more to ship their crops this year.
The Montana Grain Growers Association says starting Aug. 1, BNSF Railway Co. will increase its shipping rates between 2-1/2 cents and 4-1/2 cents per bushel.
The association said in an e-mail to its members Friday that BNSF is increasing rates systemwide. Association head Lola Raska says mediation between her group and BNSF prevented higher rate hikes.
Attorney General Steve Bullock says Montana’s farmers pay higher rates than anybody else in the nation and federal reforms are needed to repeal antitrust exemptions given to railroads.
Montana’s wheat and barley production makes up a third of the state’s economy at about $1 billion a year. Just about all of that wheat is shipped by rail to Portland, Ore., for export to Pacific Rim countries like Japan and Taiwan.