On farm CDL training an option
The associate director of transportation and infrastructure with the Illinois Farm Bureau says farmers have the option of training CDL drivers on the farm. Rodney Knittel says, “If you have the right credentials, which is really two years of owning a CDL, you can become your own training provider.” He says, “Of course, there’s some procedures that you have to do and testing that we have to give to the trainees and a little bit of record keeping that you have to do.”
Knittel says many areas are facing driver shortages, so on-farm training could be an attractive option. “For a person that’s going to use their CDL for a few times a year to make an investment of $4,000 to $5,000 to go to a school is kind of quite a bit.” He says, “So doing it on your own can make the process a little bit less financially burdensome.”
Knittel says on-farm CDL training must follow Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration guidelines, and he encourages interested farmers to contact their local county farm bureau office to learn more.