Crop-share tenant farmers will no longer be considered "for-hire" and implements of husbandry will not be regulated as trucks under the terms of the announcement issued this morning by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA.)

That decision wipes away mountains of uncertainty for farmers faced with serious decisions about motor carrier safety regulations (MCSR) and how their operations could function legally.

Illinois Farm Bureau will be hosting FMCSA administrator Anne Ferro and her staff over the next two days visiting farms and agribusinesses. We will use our time with the group to demonstrate and reinforce that they have made the correct decision. We will also turn our attention to working with the agency to address the non-compliance issues faced by 81 Illinois farmers who "failed" safety audits in February and early March before members called the problem to our attention and a moratorium was imposed on asking the crop-share question.

We consider the decisions on crop-share an implements of husbandry to in-line with what we had requested.

Thanks to county Farm Bureaus and individual farmers for submitting many of the more than 1700 comments on this issue. Watch FarmWeek for additional information.