About Us
About Us
Re-Imagine the Prairie Corridor
The Central North American Trade Corridor Association seeks to address the transformative challenges facing rural communities amid industrial and technological shifts, emphasizing the need for structured dialogue and collaboration. They aim to foster a progressive future by hosting events with diverse content providers, urging partners to contribute both vision and financial support to revitalize the prairie corridor for sustainable growth and global significance.
Who We Are
The Central North American Trade Corridor Association is embarking on a daring new initiative that calls upon individuals from all walks of life to “Re-Imagine the Prairie Corridor.” Across the prairie states of the United States and Mexico, as well as the provinces of Canada, changes are unfolding in the demographics and economic foundation of rural communities. We are actively seeking sponsor partners who can aid us in establishing a platform that offers clear leadership and fosters collaboration as we confront the forthcoming challenges and possibilities.
The national economy is achieving remarkable performance levels. Although the positive economic effects from energy production have a somewhat localized impact, the presence of oil and gas extraction, along with wind and solar energy advancement, has generated ripple effects that are not yet fully comprehended.
Historically, the economic and cultural bedrock of prairie communities has primarily rested upon agriculture. While global markets have significantly influenced agricultural expansion, they have also fueled technological research and development aimed at meeting worldwide demands. Consequently, the very nature of the family farm, as depicted in Orwell’s imagination, has undergone substantial transformation. Farms, ranches, and processing facilities have expanded in size while diminishing in quantity. Opportunities for individuals to enter the agricultural sector have grown scarce and are financially out of reach for most. Participation in agriculture is also increasingly shaped by technology, with enhanced efficiencies and productivity necessitating progressively intricate and costly equipment, supplies, and software.
Tribal, state, and local economies have weathered changes in the past. However, it appears that our fundamental institutions are reacting to changes that are impactful and hard to foresee, assess, and manage. Climate change, electric and autonomous vehicles, genetically modified organisms, artificial intelligence, shifts in politics and economics, immigration policies, workforce dynamics, and healthcare all fall into this category. Each of these issues presents intricate challenges, prospects, and compromises for rural communities in ways that diverge from those of their urban counterparts.
We are currently witnessing a period marked by shifts in industrial and technological paradigms that have the potential to create, revitalize, devastate, or overwhelm rural communities. An illustration of this is the loss of coal-fired generating stations due to improved methods of electricity generation. This transition will lead to the elimination of jobs in certain communities, while simultaneously creating new jobs requiring significantly different skill sets, often in other locations.
On the contrary, the extensive expansion of oil and gas production resulting from hydraulic fracturing technology has triggered an economic boom in substantial regions of the prairie corridor. However, history shows us that oil and gas production, like any commodity, is susceptible to cycles of prosperity and downturn.
Within the affected prairie corridor communities, there exists a pressing need for organized dialogues to reimagine their opportunities and future in light of the diverse social, economic, environmental, and cultural shifts currently underway. CNATCA aims to play a leading role in hosting and maintaining these efforts. To achieve this successfully, we require resources to access professional support in order to develop a platform that presents an exciting, positive, and forward-looking outlook on the future. The planning, production, and execution of a series of events will demand a coordinated team with the capacity to generate and deliver captivating content provided by academic researchers, industry experts, and community advocates.
As invested partners in the prairie corridor region, we extend a challenge to you to join us in shaping this progressive future, which holds significant national and international importance due to its potential to contribute to global food supply and provide substantial amounts of necessary energy. However, for us to achieve success, we rely on your visionary contribution as a partner, in addition to your financial support, as we work on future initiatives to rejuvenate the corridor. Through your sponsorship and collaboration, we can envision a flourishing prairie corridor that nurtures and supports generations to come.
Where We Are
The Autonomous Friendly Corridor is US Highway 83 running from the Canadian border to the Mexican border. Ground based vehicles will use the highway while air based vehicles will mirror highway 83 with a 40 mile wide airspace.
The goal is to begin a process that will lead to discussions and collaborative action that will improve the Northern Great Plains transportation policy, regulation and infrastructure and increase the region’s long-term transportation economic competitiveness and trade with all North America and the world marketplace.
