alberta farmers - do you fell the love????

[northfarmer]

The rules for Agriculture Equipment on any public road have changed to the following:

• Any Farm equipment over 75.5 ft of (23 meters) traveling on a road will need to apply for a government permit from the Department of Transportation (DOT) in order to move equipment anytime on a public road.
This also includes all Airseeders and longer Grain Augers.

You will need to supply the government (DOT) with
1) Legal Land description of equipment location
2) Legal Land Description of new location
3) Length of Equipment
4) Width of equipment
5) Height of equipment
6) Weight of equipment
7) Serial numbers of all Equipment
8) Models and Make and Type of Equipment
9) Tires sizes of all equipment
10) Lights you have

If DOT will issue you a permit, they will tell you
1) when and what day you can move
2) which roads you can move on
3) what you need for Pilot Vehicles, signage and lighting
4) they will charge you for this ($300.00)
5) how many lights you need

[northfarmer]

sorry for the double post...this was passed on to me this morning, the proposed rules (they maybe the regs already, did not get the info on where and when this is to take place) are even more severe on the custom operators like the shit spreaders, seeders and combiners.

Does anyone have more info as to where this is at in terms of implementation, can we have it amended stopped, time for political action on this item. Are we still in Alberta????

[agstar77]

Do oil companies have similar restrictions? Where is your farm org, wild rose?

[silverback]

April fools is over I believe.

[northfarmer]

you had me thinking, april fools for a minute, but the letter i got forwarded to me was dated Feb 27th.......still trying to get to the bottom of where this is at, but i am busy cleaning the coffee is spit up all over my computer when i read it.....like we make the kind of margins to deal with this, we are not the oil patch, and as farmers we take all kinds of precautions to help the public on roads, but we cannot regulates stupidity, and i see my share of that when moving farm equipment from the motoring public...

[silverback]

Just found a new page. No need to get our panties in a knot yet.

www.aamdc.com Changes to Agriculture Equipment Transportation Regulations. (Found under advocacy and member bulletins.)

The proposal is to update the current regulations to accommodate the increased sizes of equipment. The new regs will accept 100ft of length

[wilagro]

Here is the link:

http://www.aamdc.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1248&Ite mid=452

Or:

Alberta Transportation has advised the AAMDC that changes to a regulation guiding the weight and dimension of agriculture equipment being transported on Alberta's highways are being undertaken. This regulation exists under the Traffic Safety Act and consequently applies to all roads in Alberta, including roads maintained by rural municipalities. The regulation has been in place since 1998 and no longer reflects the size of modern farm equipment.

To resolve this issue, the department will be amending the regulations to accommodate current farm equipment requirements. The length is to be increased to 30.5 metres (100 feet) from the current limit of 23 metres (75 feet). This increase in length will accommodate a farm tractor pulling a combination of an air seeder, tank and, harrows, or a long grain auger. The height is to be increased to 5.0 metres (16 feet 4 inches) from the current limit of 4.15 metres (13 feet 6 inches) to accommodate the actual height of farm equipment (note that height cannot be unlimited due to power lines). Farm equipment will continue to be exempted from width.

However, since the changes have not yet been made, many farmers cannot transport their equipment without being in violation of current regulations. To accommodate this, Alberta Transportation has advised that dimension permits are available to allow farm equipment to be operated if it exceeds the current limits for length (23 metres) or height (4.15 metres) until the regulations can be amended.

For farmers, there is no fee for the dimension permit. In addition, one permit will cover all farm equipment owned by the farm, meaning there is no need to list each piece of equipment on the permit. To obtain a permit, farmers are asked to call the Permit Office at 1-800-662-7138.

It is our understanding that there will be a permit fee for commercial or custom operators. Likewise, if a truck is hauling grain for hire or transporting farm equipment for custom operations, the truck is required to follow the commercial vehicle rules and may require a permit to temporarily change the vehicle registration from a farm plate to a commercial plate. There is a fee for the registration permit.

The intent of this policy is to increase the current regulation requirements to be more reflective of modern farm equipment. Alberta Transportation will work with all farmers and other agricultural enterprises to assist them with the transition.

The AAMDC will continue to monitor these changes to ensure Alberta's agriculture industry does not face undue burden related to transporting farm equipment.

Enquiries may be directed to:

Kate Hovland, AAMDC
Policy Analyst
(780) 955.4094
Kim Heyman, AAMDC
Director of Advocacy & Communications
(780) 955.4079

[northfarmer]

okay, that seems more reasonable......still going to be some pissed off guys.....and when were they going to tell me I needed to get these permits, after they stopped me???

ps, thanks for the digging on the subject!!

[grrrr]

Did you mean to say, "Do you FEEL the love"?

[northfarmer]

yeah...got so excited forgot how to type..er...spell check!!!!!