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“Old Fashion Turnout”
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Ag News / Cover Story |
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It was one of those really cold spells on January 24 & 25 when the Capital District Ag Agents held their Truck Clinics. However, it was warm and cordial inside the shops we used. The intentions of these joint clinics was to establish a medium of understanding of what is expected of farmer’s if they come upon a road inspection, or what licenses are required of farmer’s driving trucks on highways, and the answers to typical questions such as tarps on loads.
All of the agricultural educators from Rensselaer,
The whole idea of having “Truck Clinics” is certainly not our
own innovation; however, we wanted it to result in the building of a
rapport between farmers and law enforcement, while resulting in a
meaningful meeting. In fact,
our idea was adapted from work done by Chautauqua County Extension
Resource Educator, David Munsee, who has run very successful clinics in On the surface alone our clinics could be considered highly successful by the overwhelming participation. In our planning sessions it was hoped we could reach out to 50 or so farmers to attend. Early on it appeared that the topic was a “hot issue” for our phones rang nearly off the hooks with farmers signing up to come. The first day of the clinic we really couldn’t get over the attendance sheets, as they were climbing by the hour. The actual two-day attendance total garnered some 140 individuals. Beyond drawing a crowd, it was our aim to provide the area farmers a short focused clinic where they could get some answers to various questions and clarification on new department of transportation regulations. Stg. James Allendroph, head of the New York State Police Troop G Headquarters Enforcement Unit stationed in Lowdonville, agreed to supply us with teams to present at each location. Troopers Roy, Lattimere, and Hammond gave quality presentations at the Welcome Stock Farm. The following day at Herrington Farm Inc., Trooper Walker and Trooper Bornmann also gave quality presentations at Herrington Farm Inc. The basic format was to have each farm supply a truck and allow the Troopers to make an inspection of the truck in front of the audience to illustrate just what they look for and inspect when you encounter an on-road inspection or get pulled over and inspected at the stop. Forward thinking in the planning stage allowed for the projection of the days event to be put on a screen to allow for larger groups to see the stage inspection points from their seats. Additionally, both of the two-day clinics were video taped; therefore, enabling us to post key parts on the various Extension websites. We hope that farmers will be able to view the video for a refresher and allow employees to view it. Information sheets and website links were given out to individuals as they arrived at the clinics. In an atmosphere of cooperation, Dean Casey, New York Farm Bureau Field Representative helped provided folders and some key information that was given to participates. In any educational event it is very helpful to measure the impact or learning that occurred. There was a pre and post survey included in the folders that were handed out and participants were asked to complete the surveys. It is clear by the responses that everyone learned from the clinic. Farmers responses showed roughly a 10% improvement on the post surveys over the pre-surveys. I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t mention that I found out in the course of the clinics that I prepared at least one invalid question. Perhaps one of the most impacting results was the tremendous rapport and respect that everyone had for one another. Both Trooper groups that presented were very impressed with the challenging questions asked of them. Several times they would clarify issues by referring to their regulation books. The federal regulation book they operate from is a rather large book with hundreds of pages and rules. No one could recall all those rules freely from their minds and as the Troopers mentioned more than once, “they change too periodically.” A very hot topic is, “When does a farmer need to tarp his load?” One would think that farmers, like anyone else, need a tarp on their loads, well, the correct answer is “no” provided the farmer is hauling his agricultural commodity. So, you can legally haul silage without a tarp, but not haul your sand bedding or gravel. I already know the next question, and that is, but people complain about silage blowing off my loads. This has happened to farmers far too many times. The Troopers answer was to keep a copy of the law in the glove compartment of your trucks. That is not to say that tarps on these loads in heavy residential areas aren’t the “nice” thing to do anyhow. We discovered from this clinic that we should extend this type of educational clinic down to the local law enforcement agencies. The general consensus was that often it is local law enforcements that are pulling over most farm trucks.
Since our truck clinic, I have had some follow up comments
forwarded to me from Trooper Bornmann.
She has reiterated how much the Troopers felt the experience was
very worthwhile and that they are committed to helping get the answers out
to the farmers. Here are the
answers to some of the questions we received and wanted to
Perhaps the most notable change is the new requirement for marking
trucks. An outcome from the
need for homeland security is that all trucks with a gross vehicle weight
(GVW) or gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 18,001 pounds or more,
including those with agricultural plates, were suppose to meet the marking
requirement by July 5, 2005. For
trucks, even those with agricultural plates with GVW or GVWR between
10,001 pounds and 18,001 pounds, or pick-up trucks with trailers, which
have a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) that is over 10,001 pounds; the
marking has been a requirement since July 5, 2006.
The only exemption that a farm has from these regulations is for
truck weighing less than 26,000 pounds, registered with a “Farm”
plate, and used only within Finally, a question that was asked at both clinics was “How do farmers get their class B or A endorsement on their license to drive farm trucks”? I finally got clarification from the legal department at the NYSDOT. Farmers and their employees desiring to get these endorsements need to go to the motor vehicle department, take a 20 questions written test and, once they pass the test, schedule a road test and bring the truck they typically will drive to the road test. When we started to set these clinics up it was our intention to see if farmers liked the idea of short impact meetings or clinics? Knowing that in today’s farming environment, farmers’ time is precious and they are not able to attend all day sessions so easily. The result of our survey indicated that 95% of the survey answered in favor of these short clinics with subject matters such as we held. That was music to our ears, but the response we received from the Troop G Headquarters was even more compelling and pleasing. I received a follow up contact from Trooper Bornmann telling me that the unit had a wrap- up meeting concerning their participation in our clinics. She told me that all the Troopers thought the clinics to be meaningful to them and that they gained a real sense of appreciation for the farmers. They felt that they would like to have continual clinics perhaps on a yearly schedule. I felt our idea was pretty well received by everybody and the fact that the Troopers were suggesting more meetings got me thinking, “We hit a home run.” She went on to offer a willingness to answer questions on an open ended agreement. If farmers have any questions they want answered, they can e-mail me at rcs39@cornell.edu and I will forward them to her, she in turn will provide me the answers to publish. This kind of willingness and appreciation from both sides was a very welcomed outcome.
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