DOT Changes Affect Farmers

DOT Changes Affect Farmers. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

Both my father-in-law and my younger brother are long haul drivers. Dad is now retired but one thing he has discussed were the rules regarding time in the seat or Hours of Service. We all know that after hours of sitting behind the wheel fatigue sets in and you need to stop and rest. Jim Fitzgerald, Executive Director of Far West Agribusiness says a recent change will affect drivers and deliveries.

FITZGERALD: The topic is a change to the Surface Transportation bill that happened in the last 30 days or so. What happened is that there is some alterations to the Hours of Service exemption for agriculture. And what that means is in the past there’s been an exemption that would allow the handling of anhydrous ammonia during peak times which would be during the spring and the fall and the state had the authority to determine how long this time period would last.

That time period was typically 30 to 45 days.

FITZGERALD: And what that meant is those folks who had commercial drivers licenses didn’t have to adhere to the rest period. In other words they could push a little during those peak times and deliver the product, but it was only for anhydrous ammonia. But this latest revision expanded that so it incorporates seeds and aqua solution of fertilizer, pesticide products. All critical crop inputs to make sure that those inputs could reach the farmer in time.

Of course for successful farming, timing is critical and any delay in getting products could be disastrous. Fitzgerald says there was one other change.

FITZGERALD: The only other thing that was altered was this was good for a 100 mile radius per day from point of destination now goes up to 150 miles. Years ago before these regulations came in to make sure that drivers, commercial drivers had appropriate times of rest which isn’t necessarily a bad idea. What was overlooked was that there’s a window of opportunity that farmers have to timely plant their crops. Both in the spring and in the fall and the regulation prohibited them from getting these inputs.

The DOT has issued a Frequently Asked Question document, which you can access by going to the Far West website at fwaa.org. Click on the “Regulatory” tab on the left side of the screen and then find the link for “Hours of Service.”

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.