INDUSTRY
Horticulture and sod as agriculture DOT issues interim final ruling
by Casey Reynolds, PhD., Executive Director, Turfgrass Producers International and Tal Coley, Director of Governmental Affairs, American Hort The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced on
November 24th, 2020 an Interim Final Rule (IFR) on agricultural commodities as defined in the U.S. federal transportation code 49 CFR 395.2.
Recent mandates on Electronic Logging Devices have caused confusion among truck drivers, farm owners, and enforcement officials as to who can or cannot claim important agricultural exemptions relative to Hours of Service (HOS) and Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs). Turfgrass Producers International (TPI), American Hort and state associations have
been working with the FMCSA on this issue for several years to make sure that our growers were included in these important agricultural exemptions. “We are pleased to announce to the industry today that this new ruling removes any ambiguity around whether or not sod is an agricultural commodity,” says Dr. Casey Reynolds, TPI’s executive director. “We want to thank the officials at the FMCSA for their time, support, and transparency as we navigated the federal rule-making process.” “We are very pleased with the clarification of the agricultural commodity definition,” said Tal Coley, Director of Government Affairs for American Hort. “Plants are highly perishable products in transit. Officials at FMCSA, with assistance from USDA, got this right and should be commended. This is a sound government measure that will provide clarity to commercial
UAC MAGAZINE | WINTER 2021
FMCSA Summary of the Ruling
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FMCSA clarifies the definition of the terms “any agricultural commodity,” “livestock,” and “non-processed food,” as the terms are used in the definition of “agricultural commodity” for the purposes of the Agency’s “Hours of Service (HOS) of Drivers” regulations. Under current regulations, drivers transporting agricultural commodities, including livestock, from the source of the commodities to a location within 150 air miles of the source, during harvest and planting seasons as defined by each State, are exempt from the HOS requirements. Furthermore, the HOS requirement for a 30-minute rest break does not apply to drivers transporting livestock in interstate commerce while the livestock are on the commercial motor vehicle. This interim final rule (IFR) clarifies the
meaning of these existing definitional terms to ensure that the HOS exemptions are utilized as Congress intended. This IFR defines agricultural commodities under 49CFR 395.2 as follows: 49CFR 395.2 Definitions. Agricultural commodity means: (1) Any agricultural commodity, non-processed food, feed, fiber, or livestock as defined in this section. (2) As used in this definition, the term “any agricultural commodity” means horticultural products at risk of perishing, or degrading in quality, during transport by commercial motor vehicle, including plants, sod, flowers, shrubs, ornamentals, seedlings, live trees, and Christmas trees.
