"CDL rules could apply to crop-share hauling" - Driving Farmers Out of Business?

CDL rules could apply to crop-share hauling; Comment period on regulations extended to Aug. 1
By Joy Swearingen, Managing editor
Wednesday, July 20, 2011 2:31 PM CDT

...Earlier this year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) began to define crop-share tenant farmers as "for-hire" carriers and implements of husbandry as "commercial motor vehicles." The "for-hire" designation for crop-share tenant farmers would have a dramatic effect on farmers because it voids exemptions from the Commercial Driver's License (CDL) program and would require a minimum of $750,000 in insurance coverage for the farmer.

...

"Hauling crops to the elevator has always been as much a part of farming as planting or cultivating. It cannot be separated out as a separate business, unless someone without a truck hires his grain hauled and pays for that service," Hanson noted.

"One of our farms has three owners, and when I haul a load of corn to the elevator from that farm, there are essentially five people's interest in that load of corn."

As for applying trucking regulations to farm trucks, Hanson noted, "It is totally ridiculous to paint all trucks with the same brush as those whose single business is trucking. In my case, my tandem truck never left the shed from Nov. 1 to March. I probably put a total of 3,000 miles on it in a year, and nearly all those miles are within a 15-mile radius."

The interpretation of "implements of husbandry" as commercial vehicles would limit who could legally operate tractors, combines and other equipment in addition to licensing and insurance costs.

...

"These new regulations are going to be especially troublesome for small, family farmers. It is going to significantly affect their bottom line and could potentially force some to sell their farms."

"We should be cutting through the red tape and getting rid of unnecessary regulations, but what we have with these new rules is the federal government forcing every small farmer in Illinois to pay even more," said Rep. Hammond.

"What we need is more incentives for our job providers, not more government regulation."

To send comments online, go to www.regulations.gov and follow instructions.

read more here - http://www.journalpilot.com/articles/2011/07/20/news/news6.txt

Maybe this is a jobs program for unemployed truckers? Those with an existing CDL? Obama admin busy creating 'new' jobs in the private sector?

You used to drive your own farm vehicles, now you have to hire someone?