The 2008 International Summit on Agricultural and Food Truck Transportation will kick off on Tuesday, Dec. 2, at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C. The summit is sponsored by the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute of North Dakota State University and a number of other corporations and trade associations. The international conference will focus on critical and timely issues affecting the commercial transportation of agricultural commodities in the United States and in international trade.
Key issues to be examined include the impacts of recently enacted agricultural and energy legislation in the U.S. Congress; the trucking industry’s ability to meet increasing demands from agricultural and food shippers, both nationally and globally; the role of energy costs and environmental issues in the trucking industry and agriculture; and the importance of the commercial trucking industry and agriculture in the international markets of the 21st century.
Among the keynote speakers are former Secretary of Agriculture and International Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter; former Undersecretary of Agriculture for Rural Development Tomas Dorr; Paul Speranza Jr., vice chairman and general counsel of Wegman’s Food Markets, and immediate past chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Charles “Shorty” Whittington, chairman of the American Trucking Associations; Dr. Wallace Tyner, professor of agriculture economics at Purdue University; Dr. David Kreutzer, senior policy analyst for Heritage Foundation; and Mike Townsley, president of Bob Evans Farms food products division.
During the summit, the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute will present the first National Agricultural Transportation Leadership Award. For more information on the summit, go to www.agandfoodtrucking.org or call Fletcher Hall at 301-765-0273.
