In just a few days, Virginia will be cracking down on many vehicles that have unofficial farm-use tags, forcing more motorists to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get a government-issued tag.
A new law, which goes into effect July 1, is part of a long effort by the state to limit what kind of people are sporting “Farm Use” tags. While many of them are legitimate, for sure, there are also a large number of small SUVs and sedans among the non-farming public that have used these tags. Using these unofficial tags, which can be bought at any farm supply store, allows motorists to waive many aspects of Virginia’s vehicle registration process.
The new law requires unregistered farm-use vehicles to display a DMV-issued permanent farm-use placard on panel trucks, pickup trucks, and sport utility vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) under 7,500 pounds. The penalty includes a $250 fine.
Anyone who owns or leases an eligible farm-use vehicle must return an application form to their local vehicle-only DMV Select or full-service DMV location and pay the $15 fee. And with the deadline to do this right around the corner, time is running out.
“It is our hope that these placards will help ensure the proper use of farm-use tags and, most importantly, make Virginia’s roads safer,” said DMV Commissioner Gerald Lackey in an article on WDBJ7. “There is not much time left before enforcement begins, so we encourage farmers to bring their filled-out applications to their local vehicle only DMV.”
The law came after years of talks involving the state’s Farm Bureau office. It was supposed to go into effect at this time last year, but an extension was granted.
“It’s really important to preserve this exemption,” said Andrew Smith, associate director of governmental relations for Virginia Farm Bureau. “The legislature, the executive branch, saw the importance of preserving it because farmers typically only use these vehicles a few weeks out of the year. Harvesting and planting season is primarily when they use it so it’s really important. We were able to do something to cut out the abuse.”
Unregistered farm-use panel trucks, pickups trucks, and sport utility vehicles obtaining a DMV placard must meet certain conditions:
- Used exclusively for agricultural or horticultural purposes on lands owned or leased by the vehicle’s owner, and not operated on or over any public highway except for specific purposes.
- Used by the farm owner or lessee on a seasonal basis in transporting farm produce and livestock along public highways for a distance of no more than 75 miles or to a storage house, packing plant or market.
- Owned by a farm owner when the vehicle is operated or moved along a highway for no more than 75 miles between a sawmill or sawmill site and their farm to transport sawdust, wood shavings, slab wood, and other wood wastes.
- Drawn by a farm tractor, used by a farmer, their tenant, agent, or employee or a cotton ginner, peanut buyer, or fertilizer distributor to transport unginned cotton, peanuts, or fertilizer owned by the farmer, cotton ginner, peanut buyer, or fertilizer distributor from one farm to another, from farm to gin, from farm to dryer, from farm to market, or from fertilizer distributor to farm and on return to the distributor.
- Making a return trip from any marketplace, transporting back to a farm ordinary and essential food, including procuring a meal for a farmer or his employees, and other products for home and farm use while engaged in activities stated above, or transporting supplies to the farm.
According to the DMV’s website, placard requirements do not apply to vehicles with a securely attached machine for spraying fruit and other plants, farm machinery or tractors operated on a highway between two tracts of land or traveling to and from a repair shop for repairs, farm vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 7,500 pounds, or farm trailers and semitrailers.