ANKENY, Iowa — Savvy farmers understand a smooth-running and efficient transportation system is critical to receiving top dollar for their commodities at market. That’s why they are encouraged to attend the Ag Transportation Summit, presented by the USDA, National Grain and Feed Assoc. and Soy Transportation Coalition (STC), at the Westin O’Hare in Rosemont, Ill., on Aug. 4-5.
"A lot of farmers are a step or two removed from the transportation process, but they are the ones who ultimately pay for it," said Mike Steenhoek, STC executive director. "Farmers need to regard transportation as one of those issues that are essential to their profitability. And when farmers engage an issue, such as transportation, that issue tends to escalate in the minds of our policymakers."
The summit theme is "Transportation Capacity: Overcoming the Challenges." This serves to raise the awareness of the importance of transportation to the success and profitability of U.S. agriculture. It also helps create momentum to motivate further action to promote and fund transportation infrastructure improvements, provides a venue for advocates of U.S. agriculture to develop collaborations and share information and seeks methods to increase communication between government and ag interests about the need for infrastructure funding, according to Steenhoek.
"Our nation’s transportation issues are confronting agriculture and rural America, not just evidenced by urban congestion and long commute times," he said. "We also need to talk about the challenges and inefficiencies in moving freight and agricultural products in this country. This venue will also allow us to explore some of the solutions."
Discussions of problems and solutions will be led by expert panels and presenters. Day one of the summit features a "rail officials" panel including John Miller, vice president of agricultural products for BNSF Railway, along with a panel on port infrastructure, updates on transportation issues in the purview of the Surface Transportation Board (STB) and the Panama Canal expansion.
Panels on inland waterways issues, surface transportation and private investment in infrastructure will be the following morning. In all, officials from major U.S. transportation companies, government agencies and international organizations will address summit attendees, which are expected to include ag media, staff associations representing agriculture, executives from elevators, processors and mills, government officials, transportation providers and officials from land grant universities, in addition to farmers.
This second summit comes just as public and policymaker interest in exploring ways to improve the nation’s transportation infrastructure is piqued. The summit serves as one way to keep the issue in front of elected officials, Steenhoek noted.
"I think there is increased receptivity to our message. A number of problems have garnered headlines, like the West Coast labor unrest, rail challenges that were very acute last year and challenges confronting the inland waterways system," he said.
"There are a number of specific challenges people can point to and show that the problems are not hypothetical. We’re capitalizing on this to tell our story. People are increasingly aware of these problems and challenges."
For more information and to register for the summit, visit www.ngfa.org
