Intrastate vs. Interstate Transportation

This came from Blake Roderick at the Pike County Farm Bureau in Pittsfield:

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has announced it will consider Illinois farmers hauling commodities in most circumstances to be intrastate commerce, effectively resolving a months-long transportation concern of Illinois farmers.

Under the new decision, farmers would no longer be required to apply for a U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) number for their trucks or pass a new-entrant safety audit to haul commodities to a first point of delivery.

As of May 3, farmers hauling farm commodities from the farm to the first point of transfer (generally, the first point of delivery where physical possession is transferred) will be considered to be operating in intrastate commerce. That applies unless it is apparent that the intent of the delivery is to enter the cargo into interstate shipment.

There are three destinations where farm commodity deliveries will automatically be considered interstate commerce under this policy:

• Deliveries during which the farmer crosses a state boundary;
• Deliveries to a river terminal; and,
• Deliveries to an intermodal facility (generally, a container loading/shipping facility.)

In these cases—and possible others analogous to them (unit trains)—the farmer knows or should reasonably assume, that the commodities will be shipped out of state. A single instance of any one of these scenarios will trigger the “interstate” carrier status for the farmer.

The Pike and Scott County Farm Bureaus will make more information on this available to members when it is available.