The inaugural Northern Commodity Transportation Conference (NCTC) is being held March 11-12 in Bloomington, Minn.

The conference is being organized by Ag Management Solutions (AMS), in conjunction with commodity groups from Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, and is focused on uniting the commodity transportation industry to discuss trade and transportation issues and challenges.

Transportation and non-tariff barrier topics such as grain quality criteria, phytosanitary issues, rail reliability and regulations and trucking efficiencies will be discussed. State officials and agriculture industry representatives are scheduled to speak, including American Soybean Association President Bill Gordon; Minnesota and North Dakota agriculture commissioners Thom Petersen and Doug Goehring; and National Grain and Feed Association President Randy Gordon.

The program is geared toward grain, trading, sales, regulatory and management industries, including grain elevator and terminal loading managers, transcontinental shipping lines, shippers, transloading facilities, rail lines, commodity association leadership, state government, regulatory groups and more.

Registration is $200 per person. Visit www.graintransportation.com to learn more and register.