UGPTI to Co-Sponsor National Ag and Food Truck Summit

The first National Summit on Agricultural and Food Truck Transport will be April 25 and 26 in Washington, D.C. The Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at North Dakota State University is co-sponsoring the event.

The conference, aimed at discussing critical issues and strengthening commercial trucking for the future success of U.S. agriculture, will be held at the Holiday Inn at 2650 Jefferson Davis Highway in Arlington, VA. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Michael Johanns will give the opening keynote address at the conference. The other primary sponsor of the event is the American Food Transporters Conference, an organization of the American Trucking Associations.

The national summit will provide a venue for the trucking, ag and food industries, and other interested organizations, to discuss critical issues and development ideas and recommendations. Further program details and registration materials are available at www.agandfoodtrucking.org. For additional information, contact UGPTI researcher Kim Vachal at (701)231-6425 or by e-mail at kimberly.vachal@ndsu.edu.

Vachal, one of the conference planners, notes that the trucking industry is diverse and highly competitive. "The industry provides a broad spectrum of services to agricultural and food operations, markets, and interests. The health of the trucking industry has a direct bearing on the competitiveness of agricultural and food interests."

"Development of legislative and policy initiatives in agricultural and food trucking for possible inclusion in the 2008 Farm Bill, the 2009 Highway Reauthorization Bill, and other appropriate federal legislation will be a key focus of the summit," notes Dave Schroyer, chairman of the Agricultural and Food Transporters Conference.

The two-day conference will focus on the role of energy costs and environmental issues in the trucking industry; factors that affect driver recruitment, training and retention; the effects of security concerns; and regulatory requirements in agricultural and food transportation, among other topics.

The UGPTI and the American Food Transporters Conference are partnering with several other organizations to sponsor the summit. UGPTI is involved because of its work studying agricultural commodity transportation and trends and in conducting analysis of transportation trends and impacts for communities and regions with economies that rely on agriculture and agricultural product processing. "This effort is an ideal fit with our past agricultural transportation-related research and outreach efforts," Vachal says.

Additional sponsors include the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Mountains-Plains Consortium, American Trucking Associations, and other private sector associations/organizations.

Advisory Council Profile: Neal Fisher

Neal Fisher, administrator of the North Dakota Wheat Commission, represents the interests of the North Dakota wheat industry on the state, national and international level. With agriculture accounting for 40 percent of North Dakota's economy, and wheat accounting for one quarter of that, there's never a shortage of things to do.

Fisher considers chairing the UGPTI advisory board an ideal fit with his agriculture-related responsibilities.

"An efficient, effective marketing and transportation system is critical to agriculture as well as to the rest of the state," he says. "As we look to the future, the Institute's programs – academic, research and outreach – all will be increasingly important as we allocate hard-won resources to build that infrastructure in a cost-effective and responsible manner."

Fisher is excited about emerging new opportunities. Demand for North Dakota commodities is growing and prices for livestock, specialty crops, and energy-related natural resources have risen dramatically. Those developments have resulted in nearly unprecedented levels of revenue flowing into the state.

The research, education and training programs offered by the UGPTI will be essential to address future transportation, marketing and service needs that accompany those opportunities, he explains.

"Greater interest in renewable energy production and identity preserved marketing niches will require more attention to intermodal and other innovative transportation systems to accommodate these new and developing industries and services," says Fisher.

Fisher's perspective is home grown but tempered with international experience. He grew up on a cattle and grain farm north of Tappen and attended school in Pettibone. He is a graduate of NDSU, where he earned master's and bachelor's degrees in agricultural economics. He also has studied Russian language, culture and history at George Washington University, Washington, D.C., and Russian agricultural technology and cultural practices at the Belorussian Agricultural Institute, Gorki, Belorussia. Fisher joined the Commission in 1978 as a marketing specialist, and has served as administrator since 1998. He and the North Dakota Wheat Commission are involved in policy and trade matters affecting the world wheat market on a daily basis.

"The Institute has grown a lot over the last decade," Fisher observes. "It has taken on a bigger job of servicing communities across the state. The state is fortunate to have at its disposal the academic skills and training of the UGPTI staff to address the research and planning needs of the transportation sector."

"The Institute's outreach to state and national policy makers is also very important. What we do here has national implications," he says. "It is becoming more and more expensive to build and maintain transportation infrastructure. Policy makers need to address those infrastructure needs in a way that is most efficient and effective," Fisher says.

"There are exciting new developments for all facets of North Dakota's economy," Fisher says. "We need the Institute's research to help us to capitalize on those opportunities by planning for the delivery of our products and services, because effective transportation is crucial to the future of our rural and urban communities."