28,850 copies distributed monthly – to every rural mailbox in Canterbury and the West Coast.
November 2012
INSIDE Ag vehicle anomalies Page 8–9
Pure breeds back
Page 19
Hard times in the last depression Page 30–31
The future of nutrient control
CONTACT US Canterbury Farming 03 347 2314
face chopper at last
by Hugh de Lacy
One of the great banes of farming life, the effective ban on driving an agricultural vehicle on the road, is about to disappear.
Nor will the drivers of such vehicles need special licences or have to abide by the timelimits for working hours that apply to highway truck drivers.
From May 1 next year it will for the first time be legal to drive a tractor, forage or combine harvester on the road without vehicle registration, a Warrant or Certificate of Fitness, and without having to prove you haven’t worked too long that day.
The only modification that agricultural vehicles will require will be a flashing amber light, and they will be allowed to tow trailers.
In a coup for Federated Farmers, the Government is presently accepting final submissions on a draft “Land Transport Rule: Agricultural Vehicles Omnibus 2012” review of the rules and laws applying to agricultural vehicles using the public roads. Submissions close at the end of this month, but Feds’ transport spokesman Ian Mackenzie, who farms at Eiffelton in Mid-Canterbury, told Canterbury Farming there’s already wide agreement among interested bodies with the draft as it stands, and he expects it to be ratified by the Government largely unchanged. The changes will mean that purpose-built agricultural vehicles — excluding trucks and utilities — will not need either registration or a Warrant/ Certificate of Fitness to drive on the road as long as they don’t go any faster than 40kph.
“If you operate an agricultural vehicle under 40kph, basically you’re exempt from everything farmers were having trouble with,” Mackenzie said. “You only need a Class One licence — that’s the first level on the driver’s licence — and this enables overseas students to come and drive as long as they’ve got their own driver’s licence, and they don’t have to go through the regime of a heavy traffic [HT] licence. “You’re also exempt from work/time rules, which is a real bonus,” he said. Work/time rules were introduced years ago to ensure that truck-drivers did not become an unacceptable risk to other road-users by working too long without a break. These proved frustrating, if not entirely unworkable, to tractor and harvester drivers who frequently do long hours at the wheel in the paddock, and were previously required to observe rest and stand-down periods before they took their
machines onto the road, often only for short distances to the next work-site. “If they’d been working a paddock for seven hours or something, and they’d maybe been working seven days straight, the moment they went on the road they were subject to the work/time rules,” Mackenzie said. “The Ministry of Transport, the Police and the Government were being sensible in saying if agricultural vehicles are operating under 40kph, a) they’re less of a hazard on the road, and b) the chances are that farmers aren’t going very far with them, so they’ve exempted farmers from registration.” Mackenzie added that there would be a rule covering better lighting of agricultural vehicles, “and we’ll be encouraging farmers to think about making themselves visible before they go on the road. “It’s a quid pro quo for the concessions we’ve got out of this,” Mackenzie said. The Government’s announcement of the opening of submissions on the draft rules included a statement that, when ratified, they will save farmers $51m a year. Mackenzie said he was not sure how that figure was calculated, but it would represent a considerable saving
for farmers in time and red tape, no less than in money.
tractor [not machines forage harvesters].
Among agricultural contractors welcoming the changes is Martin Bruce of Hororata company M.A. Bruce Ltd, which runs three forage harvesters plus associated loaders and trucks, mainly in the mid-central Canterbury silage-making industry.
“If it wasn’t a tractor some people were being told to register it on an N registration which covers mopeds and buses,” Bruce said.
“There were a whole lot of anomalies in the whole thing,” Bruce told Canterbury Farming. “For something like a combine or forage harvester, the contractor theoretically had to have it on a G registration, but it depended on who you talked to when you registered your vehicle. “Some people registered on EB registration, some on G, and you were supposed to pay a time licence but when you went to pay it they’d tell you it only applied to a
Are you looking for a tough shed?
You may not want to hang a tractor from your shed, but it would be nice to know you can! ™
Registered Master Builders
• • • •
Custom designed for you up to 80m Clearspan Specific to your site and your requirements Compatible with your existing buildings Steel, timber and/or concrete construction
StructureWise
DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION Station Street, Leeston / www.structurewise.co.nz / Ph 03 324 3392
like
The review of road safety rules as they apply to agricultural vehicles was driven by Federated Farmers, prompting the Ministry of Transport to form a review team which included representatives of the former Department of Labour (now part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment), the New Zealand Transport Agency and the Police Commercial Vehicle Investigation Unit. The Feds’ Ian Mackenzie said, “credit for driving the changes through the political system should go to Nick Clark of the federation’s Christchurch office, and Mid-Canterbury arable section chairman David Clark, who farms at Valetta in Mid-Canterbury.”