Charles “Shorty” Whittington (left) is presented the first Agricultural Transportation Leadership Award from the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute by the institute's director, Gene Griffin. Whittington, president & CEO of agricultural hauler Grammer Industries and current chair of the American Trucking Assns. (ATA), was honored for his 30 years of commitment to the agricultural and trucking industries. High notes of his career include being a founding member of ATA's Agricultural and Food Transporters Conference and a founder of one of Indiana's first soy biofuel plants, Integrity BioFuels LLC. He's also active in the Indiana Feed, Grain and Plant Food Assn., the Kentucky, Illinois and Ohio Fertilizer Assns. , and is past chair of the Indiana Motor Truck Assn.