Drought is shrinking Mississippi River levels — again. That’s a big problem for farmers.

The Mississippi River is again facing low water levels — pushing up barge rates and making it more expensive for farmers to export crops and import fertilizer.

Stretched out over 2,000 miles, the Mississippi is essential for farmers to sell their crops. Nearly half of all U.S. corn, soybeans and wheat exports travel down the waterway to the Gulf of Mexico...

... “The less product you take, they got to make more trips to get ‘X’ amount of product from point A to B,” said Napper, who currently operates out of a pier in Wisconsin...