Does the exception in §395.1(k) for “drivers transporting agricultural commodities or farm supplies for agricultural purposes” cover the transportation of poultry or poultry feed?
Hours of Service Agricultural Commodities
§395.1 Scope of the rules in this part.
Guidance Q&A
Question 30: Does the exception in §395.1(k) for “drivers transporting agricultural commodities or farm supplies for agricultural purposes” cover the transportation of poultry or poultry feed?
Guidance: No. The exception was created by Sec. 345(a)(1) of the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 [Public Law 104-50,109 Stat.568, at613], which provides in part that the hours of service regulations “shall not apply to drivers transporting agricultural commodities or farm supplies for agricultural purposes...”The terms “agricultural commodities or farm supplies for agricultural purposes” were not defined, but the context clarifies their meaning. Because the statute made the exception available only “during the planting and harvesting seasons” in each State, Congress obviously intended to restrict it to agriculture in the traditional (and etymological) sense, i.e., the cultivation of fields. “Agricultural commodities” therefore means products grown on and harvested from the land, and “farm supplies for agricultural purposes” means products directly related to the growing or harvesting of agricultural commodities.
Drivers transporting livestock or slaughtered animals, or the grain, corn, hay, etc., used to feed animals, may not use the “agricultural operations” exception.