The Agriculture Transportation Coalition, the association representing agricultural shippers, has selected Tacoma as the location for its June annual meeting.

The meeting June 12 through 15 at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center is expected to be the largest gathering of agriculture and forest products transportation professionals in the U.S., with an estimated 350 attendees.

AgTC members, made up of companies that import and export food, farm and fiber products, ship more than 2 million containers each year.

The Northwest Seaport Alliance is the top refrigerated export gateway and second-largest export gateway for overall agricultural and forest products in the U.S. The value of those exports added up to more than $6.8 billion in 2016, making up 76 percent of NWSA containerized exports. Nearly 75 percent of these exports were destined for China, Japan and other northeastern Asia countries, but they also went to 160 countries around the world.

With support from City of Tacoma, Pierce County and Economic Development Board of Tacoma-Pierce County, the NWSA pitched the location as an opportunity to showcase the Pacific Northwest’s premier products, hospitality and advantages for international agricultural cargo.

While attendees will share best practices and talk about ways to improve the shipping environment for agriculture importers and exporters, they also will have the opportunity to sample the food, cultural experiences and natural beauty for which the Pacific Northwest is famous, as well as the region’s distribution, manufacturing and transload capacity and capabilities.

Find more information about AgTC’s annual meeting.