Horticulture and sod as agriculture DOT issues ruling

by Casey Reynolds, PhD., Executive Director, Turfgrass Producers International and Tal Coley, Director of Governmental Affairs, American Hort

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.”

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 “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

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.

drivers in our industry and enforcement officers alike. We would also like to thank Rep. Austin Scott and Rep. Kurt Schrader on their bipartisan efforts to elevate this issue in Congress.”

Amending the agricultural commodity definition for transportation has been a key legislative priority for AmericanHort and TPI, as it was uncertain in the original definition as to which industries were specifically included. In turn, this created confusion around certain elements of Hours of Service regulations. The agency now states that it considers sod, flowers, ornamentals, seedlings, shrubs, live trees, and Christmas trees, within the scope of the definition.

“This is a classic example of the value and importance of trade associations like TPI and the many state associations who work on behalf of sod farms,” says Dr. Reynolds. “We could not perform this type of work without the membership dues paid by our members, and we thank them for their support.”

GEORGIA

The official summary and the new ag commodity definition as stated in the announcement are listed at the bottom of the previous page.