Grain trucks can operate overweight for 45 days
By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com
A proclamation made by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner means corn producers in the state can move more grain for the next 45 days.
For the next month and a half, grain trucks will be allowed to exceed normal weight limits by 10 percent. That should allow farmers to move about 70 more acres worth of grain per day, Raymond Poe, Illinois Director of Agriculture, told Peoria Public Radio today.
Farmers in Illinois have harvested 73 percent of their 2017 corn crop, according to the USDA’s Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin for the week ending Oct. 29.
That number is down from 90 percent recorded last year at this time and down 11 percent from the state’s five-year average.
And with parts of Illinois experiencing untimely rain, the temporary proclamation could go a long way to ensuring farmers get more of their crops moved on time, according to Bill Leigh, a cash cropper from Marshall County and chairman of the Illinois Corn Growers Association’s exports committee.
“(The proclamation) is a most certainly a helpful tool for these farmers around (Illinois) who are trying to get their crops harvested,” he told Farms.com today. “Especially in the northern part of the state that seems to be further behind. This provision should help them complete their harvest in a timely manner.”
Truckers can get the temporary permit free online. Drivers should also carry a copy of the Governor’s proclamation inside their trucks.
Each truck must have its own copy of the permit and proclamation for the 45-day period.
And the permits only apply to state routes.