 <unk> of goods shipped by barges on the Missouri River has seen a serious decline from the 1960s to the present . In the 1960s , the USACE predicted an increase to 12 million short tons ( 11 Mt ) per year by 2000 , but instead the opposite has happened . The amount of goods plunged from 3 @.@ 3 million short tons ( 3 @.@ 0 Mt ) in 1977 to just 1 @.@ 3 million short tons ( 1 @.@ 2 Mt ) in 2000 . One of the largest drops has been in agricultural products , especially wheat . Part of the reason is that irrigated land along the Missouri has only been developed to a fraction of its potential . In 2006 , barges on the Missouri hauled only 200 @,@ 000 short tons ( 180 @,@ 000 t ) of products which is equal to the amount of daily freight traffic on the Mississippi . 
