Charles “Shorty” Whittington, chairman of the American Trucking Associations, will deliver the opening keynote address at the International Summit on Ag and Food Transportation on Dec. 2 in Washington, D.C. Whittington will discuss “The State of the Trucking Industry and Agricultural Transportation Today.”
The one-and-a-half-day summit will address global issues and aspects of commercial agricultural transportation and distribution, and is sponsored by the North Dakota State University’s Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, as well as several nonprofit associations and corporations.
Whittington, who grew up in the heart of an agricultural community in Indiana, started Grammer Industries in 1977, which specializes in hazardous material transportation for substances such as anhydrous ammonia, propane, nitric acid and compressed gases. In addition to Grammer Industries, with facilities in Indiana, Ohio and Florida, Whittington is also president of Integrity Biofuels, the first soy biodiesel plant in Indiana.
Active in various aspects of the trucking industry for decades, he also serves on boards for the Indiana Motor Trucking Associations, the Agricultural & Food Transporters Conference and the National Tank Truck Carriers, and participates in many state propane and fertilizer trade associations. He was named Distinguished Alumnus of the Purdue University School of Agriculture and received the AgriVision Award from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture in 2008. Earlier this year, Whittington participated in a U.S. Department of Commerce trade mission to China and India.
“In addition to ATA Chairman Whittington, we are fortunate to have a number of outstanding experts to address the critical issues in agricultural transportation and distribution,” says Fletcher R. Hall, executive director of the 2008 International Summit, which will be held at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C. Reduced-fee early registration is due by Nov. 14. To register, review the full agenda or for more information, go to www.agandfoodtrucking.org.
