Montana Ag Producers Meet to Ensure There Will be Room on Trains for Harvests

The Montana Attorney General’s office is advising all agricultural producers that ship or receive goods by rail to pay attention to an upcoming meeting. Attorney General's office spokeswoman Anastasia Burton says that busy rail lines last year hurt many Montana producers.

"Last year's crop harvest kind of overlapped due to weather delays," Burton said. "At the same time more coal was being shifted to meet heating demands because the winter was colder. More crude oil was also being shifted at the same time. All of these things combined kind of mounted up into delays for ag stakeholders."

A series of meetings by the Surface Transportation Board will take place in June.

"They're going to be holding individualized half-hour meetings up in Malta on June 11," Burton said. "If folks are interested, they can make an appointment to meet with STB folks directly by emailing them at rcpa@stb.gov."

Attorney General Tim fox says his office is coordinating with the Surface Transportation Board and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad in order to ensure that Montana stakeholders have the rail service they need to bring goods to market.