Agricultural Trucking
 

I have yet to read anything about agricultural trucking on this site. Agricultural trucking is what I would be interested in doing. I found a web site for a local trucking company here in the Central Valley of California. To get your CDL you need to get your permit on your own. Then, you have 8 hours of classroom and 16 hours of driving. And then you test for your license. Am I missing something here? Is agricultural trucking so different that you don't need as many hours training to do it? I've seen lots of trucks from this company during peak seasons and the drivers all seem to be very good. Any opinions? Thanks! Steve

Are you talking about farm trucking for yourself or for someone else? In Ohio there are several exemptions if you are hauling your own grain, etc. in farm use, but not if your just a CDL holder working for someone else.

isn't' that where you just drive on a farm or something....???? :?

No, this is where you drive for a company and you go out to farms and pick up trailers full of tomatoes or whatever and take it to a plant. Sometimes these plants are pretty close sometimes you're driving over 100 miles. You drive 12 hour shifts.

Unless the rules are different in CA, here in OH this type of operation would require you to live by almost all of the same rules as any other CDL holder. Now, you may avoid a logbook because it sounds like you would be more of a local driver. You also might not have to live by the 80,000 lb rules because some states give exemptions to farms to be a certain percentage over 80K in farm use. Rules that apply to logging operations also apply to farm operations in some cases.

Yes, but is 8 hours classroom and 16 driving enough??? I mean if it is, it's going to save me a whole lotta money getting my CDL on my own!

It my opinion it all depends on the person, but in most cases it is not enough. There are no laws on the books that say you can't do this now, at least not in Ohio. There has been a proposal calling for a certain amount of classroom and behind the wheel training, but unless it's a state thing, nothing that I know of exists.

A person could walk in, take the permit tests and then go take the license testing with no instruction here in OH. I've known several people who have done it this way, but it wouldn't work for most.

Some schools are better than others, but for the most part CDL school is just about helping you get the actual license. IMO, most people need that training that comes from running with a driver trainer for a reputable company.

I am going to say no. You may be able to pick up the basics, enough to pass the test but I wouldn't let you drive my truck if that is all the training you have. No offence to you.

25 years ago that's exactly what I did, all within 3 hours, when I woke up that day I had no intention of getting my CDL (back then it was just called a class A) I took the tests on a whim while waiting for my buddies girlfriend to take her m/c permit test.

Trying to find a carrier who would hire me, now that's a different story :sad:

That being said, most of the seasonal produce haulers I've seen on the road aren't fit to drive and you'd better be fluent in spanish.

If your in Calif your Spanish better be first rate because that is all I ever see hauling produce out of the fields around here......