NY ‘farmer' plates sufficient in Jersey

TRENTON — New Jersey has signed agreements with New York State and Delaware regarding the use of farm vehicles when driven across the neighboring state’s borders. The agreements allow operators of vehicles with “farmer” license plates to drive those vehicles from New Jersey into Delaware and New York and vice-versa without being cited by police. Without the agreement, farmers had to purchase significantly more expensive “commercial” registrations to be able to drive their farm vehicles into the neighboring state. Those vehicles that did not have the commercial registration could be detained by police, which could have proved costly if they were carrying perishable materials. Another alternative for farmers was to hire commercial haulers to deliver their goods. Now, farmers will be able to deliver their own products, as long as their vehicles are registered with “farmer” license plates in New Jersey, with special farm vehicle registration “FT” tags in Delaware or as an “agricultural” truck in New York. In all three states, vehicles with farmer or FT license plates or registered as agricultural trucks are restricted to hauling only the farmer’s own agricultural products and supplies. In addition, New Jersey and Delaware signed a separate agreement recognizing each other’s commercial driver’s license exemption for farmers. In both states, farmers who have valid drivers licenses do not need commercial drivers licenses when the farm vehicle they are operating is properly registered as a farm vehicle, is used exclusively to transport agricultural products, farm machinery or farm supplies to or from the farm owned by the farmer, is not being rented for use by others, and is used within a radius of 150 miles of the farmer’s farm.