Editor’s note: This is the final segment in a two-part series on barge traffic and the businesses it affects on the river.

All the major players have been on deck and have apparently, thanks to Mother Nature, been able to solve the impending disaster with barge traffic on the Mississippi River.

Politicians, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Coast Guard, Illinois Corn Growers Association, Illinois Farm Bureau, American Soybean Association, Illinois Chamber of Commerce, The Fertilizer Institute and on and on ... none of them could stop Mother Nature, but she took a turn that avoided the crisis.