The Agricultural 150-Air-Mile HOS Exemption

Who the exemption is for

395.1(k) is a hours-of-service provision. It is not a job listing and it is not a farm-startup guide. It covers drivers, during the planting and harvesting period the state has set, while they transport the commodities, supplies, or livestock the paragraph names, inside the radius the paragraph draws. A carrier that also hauls steel does not get the exemption on the steel days. A driver who hauls grain in the morning and a boxed general-freight load in the afternoon has the exemption, if at all, only on the movement that fits.

The paragraph says the provisions of this part shall not apply. This part is Part 395. It is not a waiver of insurance, of drug testing, of the commercial driver's license, or of cargo securement. People hear HOS exemption and park the rest of the safety rules. Do not.

The broader list of hours-of-service exceptions is HOS exceptions and exemptions. Stay on this page until the radius and the season are clear. Then use that catalog only if a different exception is the real question.

150 air miles from the source, and what a source is

For agricultural commodities, the trip that qualifies is from the source of the commodities to a location within a 150 air-mile radius from the source. The source is where the commodity is grown or raised, such as the farm or the ranch, not the elevator you wish were the start because it is closer to the consignee. Drawing the circle around the elevator when the grain came from a farm outside that story is how legal miles become a guess.

Farm supplies for agricultural purposes are measured from the distribution point, wholesale or retail, to the farm or other place they will be used, within 150 air miles of that distribution point. Supplies moving from a wholesale distribution point to a retail distribution point are their own clause, again within 150 air miles of the wholesale point. Read the clause that matches the stop. Do not collapse them into from anywhere agricultural to anywhere agricultural.

Livestock is the clause people apply backward. 395.1(k)(4) measures 150 air miles from the final destination of the livestock. The definition points to 7 U.S.C. 1471 and includes insects. It is not every animal load a broker calls livestock. Health certificates, identification, and the care rules are not optional because the clock is off. Those papers are livestock hauling requirements.

An air mile is a nautical mile, about 6,076 feet. It is not the mile on the odometer. 49 CFR 395.1(e)(1)(i), in the short-haul paragraph, states the conversion FMCSA uses: a 150 air-mile radius is 172.6 statute miles. The distance is a straight line from the source, the distribution point, or the livestock destination, whichever clause you are in. Road miles can be longer than the straight line and the load can still be inside, or the road can look short while the straight line is already outside. Measure the circle. Do not measure the exit numbers and call it close.

Planting and harvesting seasons are state-defined

The opening line of 395.1(k) limits the exemption to planting and harvesting periods, as determined by each State. A page that prints one national season is wrong, so this one will not. Some states declare a year-round period. Some declare specific months. The declaration that matters is the one FMCSA publishes for that state, because that is the determination the enforcement community is pointed at.

Look up the state where the source, the distribution point, or the livestock destination sits, matching the clause you are using. Do not borrow a neighboring state's calendar because the route crossed the line. If the posted season does not cover the date of the trip, Part 395 applies in full even if you are inside the circle. The radius without the season is just a map.

Print the current state notice and keep it with the trip. A driver's memory of last year's dates is how a legal December move becomes a February violation. Seasons get updated. Check the year you are hauling.

What is suspended inside the radius

Inside a qualifying move, during a qualifying season, Part 395 does not apply to that transportation. That includes the 11-hour driving limit, the 14-hour window, the 30-minute interruption, and the 60-or-70-hour rules, for that portion. It also includes the record-of-duty-status requirement in Part 395 for that portion. It does not include the rest of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. The driver still needs to be qualified, the vehicle still needs to be inspected, and drug and alcohol rules still exist.

Do not describe the exemption as the 11-hour clock is off for agricultural haulers. The 11-hour clock is off only while the load, the radius, and the season all match. The moment one of them fails, you are a property-carrying driver on the ordinary rules. Plan the trip as if the clocks will turn on at the boundary, because they will.

Empty movements are the argument at the roadside. FMCSA has treated certain empty moves that are part of the qualifying transportation, such as running empty back toward the source within the radius during the season, as part of the operation the exemption covers. An empty move to pick up a non-agricultural load is not. If the empty miles are positioning for freight that is not in 395.1(k), log them under ordinary hours of service. Do not let a morning grain load paint the afternoon general-freight deadhead.

What happens the mile you leave the radius

The exemption is not a 500-mile pass. When the truck crosses the circle, Part 395 applies to that portion of the trip. Drivers should know the boundary before they roll, not when the ELD or the officer calculates it. If the delivery is outside the radius, the ordinary 10-hour break, 11-hour driving limit, 14-hour window, and weekly total apply to the driving outside, and you should be legal at the moment you cross, not already out of hours with a story about the farm.

A practical way to run the boundary is to treat the edge of the circle as the start of a normal duty day if the outer miles require a log. Have the break already taken. Do not arrive at the line with 14 hours already worked and expect the exemption to donate a fresh window. It does not reach backward to erase the miles that were outside, and it does not reach forward to cover them.

If you cannot draw the circle, you cannot claim the exemption. Put the source or the livestock destination on a map, measure 172.6 statute miles in a straight line, and see whether the stop is inside. Eyeballing a familiar highway is how a stop that is 160 road miles and 180 straight-line miles gets hauled as exempt.

A worked circle, not a national rule

Example, labeled as an illustration and not as anyone's route. The source is a grain farm. The elevator is 160 statute miles down the highway but only 140 air miles in a straight line. During that state's posted planting and harvesting period, the commodity move from that source to that elevator can fit 395.1(k)(1), because the location is within 150 air miles of the source. The odometer reading of 160 did not decide it. The straight line did.

Change one fact. The elevator is 140 highway miles away and 160 air miles in a straight line, because the road cuts a diagonal the circle does not. That elevator is outside. Part 395 applies to the portion outside the radius. The shorter road does not pull the stop back inside.

Change the cargo. The same miles with a load of packaged goods that are not agricultural commodities from that source are ordinary hours of service, season or no season. Change the date. The same grain, inside the circle, on a day the state's posted season does not include, is ordinary hours of service. Three gates. All three have to be open.

Covered farm vehicles under 395.1(s) remain a separate test. So does the short-haul exception, which uses the same 150 air-mile phrase for a different purpose. Sharing a number does not share a rule. If the operation is a farm vehicle that meets 390.5, read that definition. If the operation is a for-hire haul of grain beyond a farm's own vehicle, you are on 395.1(k) and only as far as the circle and the season allow.

Frequently Asked Questions