News
For Immediate Release
August 13, 2008
Whittington Receives Indiana AgriVision Award
(Indianapolis, IN) August 13, 2008 - Charles “Shorty” Whittington, President of
Grammer
Industries in Grammer, Indiana, and Integrity Biofuels in Morristown, Indiana, was presented with
the Indiana AgriVision Award by Indiana Lt. Governor Becky Skillman at the annual Indiana State
Fair in Indianapolis.
This award, given by the Indiana State Department of Agriculture and Lt. Governor and Secretary of Agriculture Skillman, is in keeping with the vision that Indiana is a global leader for agricultural and food innovation and commercialization.
The award is presented to an Indiana resident who has demonstrated exemplary leadership to maximize Indiana’s agricultural potential and secure it as a world leader in agriculture production. It is bestowed on the person who has reshaped Indiana’s agriculture through innovative advances with new business methods in all sectors of agriculture – from bioenergy to transportation to trade.
Charles “Shorty” Whittington grew up in agricultural surroundings. He started in farming and rapidly developed an agri-business transportation career. The diversity of farming, grain elevator operations and the need he saw for specialized transportation prompted Whittington to establish Grammer Industries in 1977. His present-day corporations include property companies from Florida to Michigan, equipment sales and leasing, specialized tanker fleets and terminal operations throughout the Midwest. Recognizing the need for renewable fuels and the role they will play in the future of the transportation industry and reducing America’s dependency on foreign oil, Whittington partnered with his son, John, to create Integrity Biofuels in 2006.
Integrity Biofuels, Central Indiana’s first soy biodiesel plant, is located in Morristown, Indiana. This production facility uses soybean oil as its primary feedstock to be converted to methyl-esters (B100 Biodiesel). The process incorporates the latest technology and automation to produce some of the finest quality biodiesel fuel in the United States.
Grammer Industries, Inc., headquartered in south central Indiana, supplies transportation services for industrial, agricultural and retail suppliers. Grammer specializes in transporting anhydrous ammonia, both C grade and Met grade, liquefied petroleum gases, carbon dioxide, nitric acid and bulk liquid corrosive hazardous waste throughout the eastern half of the U.S.
Grammer Industries, Inc. grew from a strong core of transporting agricultural goods to an industry leader in a wide variety of specialized transportation, safety, training, emergency response, installation, and facility management to create a fear-free atmosphere for its customers.
Mr. Whittington is currently the first vice chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Trucking Associations (ATA). He will become Chairman of the Board in October 2008 and he will be the first commercial agriculture transporter to be ATA’s Board Chairman.
Whittington serves on the boards for the Indiana Motor Trucking Associations 
(IMTA), the
Agricultural & Food Transporters Conference (AFTC), the National Tank Truck Carriers (NTTC),
and is active in many state propane and fertilizer trade associations. Whittington served on a
government negotiated rule making board, one of only five successful such missions of the
Department of Transportation. He is also a member of the National Biodiesel Board.
Whittington has been awarded the Distinguished Service Award of the AFTC, where he served as chairman for six years. He was the commercial agricultural transportation and biofuels representative on the 2007 Trade Mission to China under the leadership of the Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce. He has also participated in a number of seminars and events on biofuels for the United States Chamber of Commerce, and received an award from the Central Indiana Clean Cities Program in 2008.
Whittington is a graduate of Purdue University. He was awarded the Agricultural Distinguished Alumni Award by the Purdue University School of Agriculture in 2006.
He and his wife, Ro Anne, are active at the First Baptist Church in Columbus, Indiana. They reside just outside of Columbus near the small town of Grammer, Indiana.
