Historically, human societies have relied upon waterways for trading agricultural goods. Since the dawn of the railroad era and modern transportation, however, that behavior has shifted.

Straight Arrow News contributor Peter Zeihan argues that North Dakota boasts “the world’s deepest rail connection system” to ship out freight and agricultural goods entirely without waterway transportation. One of the trade-offs of that system is that it sometimes clashes with or relies upon other systems—namely, the U.S. energy system.

For all those with an aversion to woodchippers…today’s video is for you. That’s right, I’m in Fargo, North Dakota and we’re discussing the state’s agricultural prowess despite a lack of water access.

While most Midwest states rely on river systems for shipping, North Dakota has built an extremely robust rail system that facilitates the transportation of their agricultural products. These railways connect to both the Mississippi River and the Pacific Coast, which broadens and diversifies market access.

As impacts to global agricultural markets increase, the importance of North Dakota foodstuffs will only grow. However, the shale revolution has introduced some competition for rail space between the agriculture and energy industries, but that’s a story for another time.