From: Mark Gebhards and Kevin Rund



Re: IDOT Now Imposing For-Hire Standards on Crop-Share Farmers



We want to inform you of a very recent development that has come to our attention that will impact a number of our members.

We were informed last Friday that Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) compliance officers at IDOT are now treating farmers who truck their landlord’s share of grain as “for-hire carriers.” They suggest that this is not a change in regulation, but rather a correction of an oversight that had slipped by unnoticed for decades. Only operating farmers with crop-share farming agreements are impacted. Those who operate strictly under cash rent agreements are still viewed as “private carriers.”

Cash need not change hands. Any form of compensation for trucking is considered in determining the “for-hire” status. Merely the share of grain the farmer receives as a part of producing the crops and delivering it to the bin is viewed as sufficient to trigger the designation.

It is likely that the majority of Illinois farmers will be impacted. According to the University of Illinois, the average proportion of total acres that were operated under a crop share agreement in 2009 was 37%.

The designation as a “for-hire carrier” is very significant for farmers. It voids exemptions from the Commercial Driver License and from Drug and Alcohol Testing requirements. It requires a minimum of $750,000 in insurance coverage. There are other impacts, though still cloudy, in light of this recent news. Once those impacts are fully identified and confirmed officially by the appropriate administering agencies, we’ll inform you immediately.

We have secured a meeting between President Nelsen and the U.S. Dept. of Transportation officials in Washington D.C. this week to address this matter. We have also had, and will continue to have, extensive communication with the Illinois Dept. of Transportation on this issue as well.

What are farmers to do? Since any reversal of interpretation or change in regulation could take a while to achieve, most farmers will have to consider the regulations applying to for-hire, interstate carriers and how they might apply in their own situation. Watch for additional notices, FarmWeek articles, and other updates in the weeks ahead.