The U.S. Dept. of Transportation abruptly withdrew a proposal for new guidelines for operating farm vehicles and equipment, and its definition for interstate/intrastate commerce regarding farming on Aug. 10.
When the proposal surfaced Aug. 3, word spread like wildfire throughout the national farming community, and the government was flooded with voiced opposition to the change.
Spearheading some of that wildfire national communication was Lisa Hunt, of Newcastle.
According to Hunt, it was just happenstance that the Maine Farm Bureau Association learned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) of the U.S. DOT was proposing new guidelines for operating farm vehicles and equipment that could actually force some farms to “go out of business.”
Hunt’s family, aside from being in the lumber business (N.C. Hunt & Co., Damariscotta and Jefferson), comes from a family of lifelong farmers, with the family homestead on Bunker Hill on the Newcastle/Jefferson line.
On Aug. 3 she was up all night emailing, telephoning and calling everyone about the issue.
“I called up farm bureaus throughout the country trying to get the word out that the U.S. DOT was attempting to push through regulations to require farmers to hold commercial driver’s licenses (CDL) to legally drive their own trucks and tractors on their own property. The government wanted to redefine all ‘implements of husbandry;’ as commercial vehicles: that’s trucks, trailers and tractors,” Hunt said.
Maine Farm Bureau Association Executive Board Member Clark Granger, of Woolwich sounded relieved when discussing the demise of the proposal Aug. 11, and credits Hunt with working so hard to get the word out. “Lisa’s right, and she was fantastic with what she did,” he said.
Clark said, “That [proposal] is something that is now resolved as of midday yesterday [Aug. 10] but it has certainly been a newsworthy item.
“The motor transport association [FMCSA] has decided to leave the rules unchanged. They solicited comment and they heard in spades from the ag community,” he said.
Besides praising Hunt’s efforts, Granger commended Maine Senators Snowe and Collins for quickly voicing support of Maine farmers, along with the Maine Farm Bureau Association and “all kinds of farm bureaus nationally, some 1700 or so [people responded], and the vast majority were opposed to it, and they are fortunately going to leave farmers alone,” he said.
Granger believes safety prompted the proposal in the first place, along with “transportation on the national level, at least that’s what they say,” he said. “It’s about buying big loads of product and not being commercially licensed [with a CDL license] to do so. Something that is over 10,000 pounds, and you get a large tractor and a farm implement; that runs up a lot of weight. Part of the concern is safety, and the federal government is responsible for regulating interstate commerce,” he said.
In his opposition letter to Thomas L. Yager, Chief of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Maine Farm Bureau Assn., President Robert Hammond discussed pressing concerns, questioning if it is “the FMCSA’s position that some farmers may be engaged in interstate commerce from the time they leave the farm gate, even though they never enter another state because their commodities, at which some point in the supply chain may [end up out of state].
“If state enforcement agencies adopt the FMCSA guidance, all agricultural products would be defined as interstate commerce, even if the goods are transported only a short distance within the state using pickup trucks and trailers. Farmers would lose the exemptions they were given by Congress in federal highway legislation.”
Other parts of the proposal Hammond wrote were, “unnecessary and excessive [in] proposed guidance…that would require farmers to display DOT numbers, register the owners’ or farm name, limit mileage, obtain a medical card for the driver or maintain hours of service records just to transport their own crops and inputs.”
“It just seemed very heavy handed,” Granger said about proposed regulations concerning children working on family farms.
“They [the kids] don’t qualify for a commercial license until 21. The other thing is there are a lot of farm groups that have programs for kids to learn to operate [farm equipment] and we have tractor safety courses, and they [the kids] are very capable and responsible,” Granger said.
According to Granger as well, the design of modern farm machinery has helped prevent accidents and injury, with tractors for example, having “wide front ends” that increase stability.
“Of course the farming community is aware of the hazards of farming,” Granger said. He also noted homeowners have been known to roll their riding lawnmowers.
Of dodging this latest bullet aimed at farming, Hunt said, “Honestly, enough is enough.
“The farmers, the fishermen, forestry; that’s our background. That’s the backbone of our state. When you come after the livelihood of the people of our state, there is something fundamentally wrong…if you can’t trust the farmer to do the right thing, my gosh, the bureaucrats have got to be reined in.
“I am so thankful that so many good people across the country and across the state were willing to do the right thing. Government has got to be closer to the people and be more responsive to the people. The town selectmen and councilors are your neighbors, but a bureaucrat has no connection; it is so easy to be out of touch.
“As far as I’m concerned the farmers are over regulated, over taxed, struggle with high fuel and this [proposal] on top of it? It would have driven a lot of families under.
“This showed how we can spread the word and how we can help,” Hunt said.
