The new chairman of the American Trucking Associations will deliver the opening keynote address at the International Summit on Ag and Food Transportation Dec. 2 in Washington, D.C.


Charles "Shorty" Whittington, the first commercial agricultural transporter to be chairman of ATA, will discuss "The State of the Trucking Industry and Agricultural Transportation Today."

The one-and-a-half-day summit, Dec. 2-3, 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 non-profit associations and corporations.

Paul S. Speranza, Jr., immediate past chairman of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and vice chairman, general counsel and secretary of Wegmans Food Markets, will deliver a luncheon keynote on the topics of food, politics and business issues. Mike Townsley, executive vice president of Bob Evans Farms food products division, will deliver the final luncheon keynote.

Other speakers include: the Hon. Clayton Yeutter, senior advisor for international trade for Hogan & Hartson; Jolanta Iwanicka, first secretary, Embassy of Poland; Yoichi Watanabe, Counselor, Embassy of Japan; Anne Hazlett, minority counsel of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry; Dr. Wallace E. Tyner, professor of agriculture economics at Purdue University; and the Hon. Thomas Dorr, Under Secretary for Rural Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Summit will be held at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C. Reduced-fee early registration is due by Nov. 14.

More info: www.agandfoodtrucking.org