2008 Ag and Food Transportation Conference
Executive Summary
The mission of the 2008 International Summit on Agricultural Food Truck Transportation was to build on the 2007 Summit, bringing the trucking industry and agriculture and food transportation organizations together to discuss critical issues and generate ideas to strengthen commercial agricultural trucking as a key partner in the future success of U.S. and international agriculture.
Given the essential role the trucking sector plays in world agriculture, this event encourages proactive and coordinated efforts to achieve efficient and effective transportation of agricultural commodities and food worldwide.
Over 20 speakers/presenters from Congress, trucking and national and international agriculture organizations, federal government agencies, and private sector experts, addressed the 2008 Summit.
The outstanding program featured noted experts in the field of international agricultural and transportation trade and food security. Former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and U.S. Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter open the initial session with an overview of the agricultural trade and transportation in the 21st Century. Jolanta Iwanicka, First Secretary, Embassy of Poland gave a thorough presentation on the importance and status of biofuels in Poland and the European Union, and the impacts of renewable fuels on agriculture policy and transportation challenges. Dr. Wallace Tyner, Professor, Agriculture Economics, Purdue University, was the presenter on the topic "Food vs. Fuel, The Real Story".
In the area of U.S. energy and rural development issues, former U.S. Undersecretary of Agriculture for Rural Development, Thomas Dorr, and Dr. David Kreutzer were presenters. Also, Deputy Undersecretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agriculture, Floyd Gaibler, provided an overview of the impact of foreign agricultural programs on U.S. agriculture and agricultural transportation trends. Dealing with U.S. highway infrastructure challenges and agricultural truck transportation, were Bruce Blanton, Director of Transportation Services Division, USDA, and Tony Furst, Director of Freight Management and Operations, Federal Highway Administration. Also looking at infrastructure needs from the congressional vantage point and the 2009 Highway Reauthorization Bill was Janet Kavinoky, U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Tim Lynch, American Trucking Associations; and Richard Lewis, Forest Products Association. Charles Stenholm, former member of congress and former ranking member of the Agriculture Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, presented a thoughtful and insightful look into the political issues affecting agriculture and commercial agricultural transportation in both the current U.S. economy and the 111th Congress.
Presentations on current issues in food and agricultural issues from private sector executives were given by Paul Speranza, Jr., Vice Chairman and General Counsel of Wegman's Supermarkets; Charles "Shorty" Whittington, Chairman, Board of Directors, American Trucking Associations; and Mike Townsley, President, Bob Evans Farms.
The 2008 Summit focused on the fact that the trucking industry is a diverse and highly competitive industry, providing a broad spectrum of services to a variety of agricultural and food operations, markets, and trade worldwide. Although many issues are important within the agricultural and food trucking sector, these issues were addressed as critical:
- Impacts of the new U.S. farm and energy legislation on domestic and international agricultural production and processing as a critical agent of change for the agricultural and trucking sectors.
- Trucking industry's ability to meet increasing demands from agricultural and food industries.
- Role of energy costs, renewable fuels and environmental issues on the agriculture and food industry.
- Effects of security concerns and requirements in agricultural and food transportation.
- Importance of agricultural hours-of-service exemption to the efficiency of U.S. commercial agricultural transportation and exports, a truck weight reform on the U.S. interstate highway system for the transport of raw agricultural commodities and forest products.
The expected outcomes of the 2008 Summit were:
- Excellent nationally and internationally recognized speaker presentations
- Discussions among researchers, policy makers, and industry leaders for defining strategies, setting agendas, and pooling resources for future effective and efficient ag and food truck transportation.
- Expert presentations and panel discussions
- Ideas exchange and knowledge building
- National and international relationship and networking opportunities
- Focus on future policy and legislative initiatives
- Increased understanding of renewable fuels on commercial ag transportation and ag feedstock production.
The 2008 Summit, improving on the 2007 event, generated significant press attention in the trade press and other media.
