The American Trucking Associations' Agricultural and Food Transporters Conference, the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, and North Dakota State University will sponsor the first ever "National Summit on Agricultural
and Food Truck Transport for the Future" April 25-26, 2007, at the Holiday Inn at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Michael Johanns, will give the opening keynote address. "His keynote indicates the importance of the summit to the agricultural sector and trucking industry and the vital role of commercial agricultural trucking in the 21st century," said AFTC Chairman Dave Schroyer. "The summit is especially timely in view of comments made by President Bush in his State of the Union Address on renewable fuels, biodiesel and energy independence," he said.
The summit aims to provide a venue for the trucking, agricultural and food industries, and other stakeholders, to discuss critical issues as well as ways to strengthen commercial trucking to ensure the safety and success of the food and agricultural transport industry in the future. Developing legislative and policy initiatives in agriculture and food trucking for possible inclusion in the 2007 Farm Bill and other appropriate federal legislation, will be key focal points of the summit.
The summit will examine the impact of farm and energy policy changes on domestic agricultural production and processing; the ability of trucking to meet increasing demands from agricultural shippers and the food industry; and the influence of energy costs and issues of the environment on the trucking industry.
Critical topics will also include driver recruitment, training and retention; the effect of security requirements in transporting agricultural and food products; and the importance of agricultural hours-of-service exemption to commercial agricultural transportation.
For summit updates and registration information visit www.agandfoodtrucking.org or contact AFTC Executive Director, Fletcher Hall at (703) 838-7999.