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    What is Agriculture Exception?

    Updated
    Audience Fleet Admins, Fleet Managers, Drivers
    Applies To Driver App, Fleet Dashboard

     

    Introduction

    Commercial motor vehicle drivers in the United States are exempt from Hours of Service (HOS) rules within a 150-air-mile radius of the source agricultural commodities being hauled during state-determined planting and harvesting periods, and when transporting farm supplies in certain circumstances. 49 CFR § 395.1(k), This exception covers the transportation of agricultural commodities and farm supplies and permits drivers to record their vehicle operation as "Off Duty" on their logs.

    Agriculture Exception Overview

    Guidance for ELD Drivers while using the exception

    There are four ways in which the FMCSA allows drivers to record their hours of service when transporting agricultural commodities. Motive offers all four methods:

    • Option 1: Do not connect to the Vehicle Gateway and leave all driving events unidentified.
    • Option 2: Log the time as normal driving time and annotate the logs to indicate these driving events as an Agriculture Exception.
    • Option 3: Utilize Personal Conveyance and annotate those driving events as an Agriculture Exception. Remember to turn on/off PC after every engine ignition off cycle within the 150 air miles radius.
    • Option 4: The driver can use Motive’s Agriculture Exception feature, which allow them to switch the vehicle mode to unregulated and record movement as "off-duty" while driving within the 150-air-mile radius of the source of the commodity. This allows drivers to change the duty status only once, and the same duty status remains selected on the logs throughout the entirety of the 150 air miles radius.


    Does the agricultural exemption defined in 49 CFR 395.1(k) of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety

    Regulations apply when a commercial driver operates a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) in Canada?

    • No, the agricultural exception guidance issued by the FMCSA applies only to ELD drivers in the United States. Once the driver crosses into Canada, Canadian enforcement officials will consider off-duty time while operating under the US Agriculture Exception as driving time to calculate HOS compliance in Canada. However, they will not require that the time operating under the exemption in the US be reflected as driving duty status time when reviewing RODS.

    How to use Agriculture Exception using Motive Driver App?

    Motive now offers fleets the capability to activate the agricultural exception for ELD drivers. Once activated, drivers have the following options:

    1. Drivers can add the agricultural source location in their Driver App.
    2. Motive proactively notifies drivers to switch their vehicle mode upon entering or exiting the 150 air-mile radius.
    3. The driver’s duty status is automatically annotated with "Operating under Ag Exception" when this feature is in use.

    On the fleet dashboard, fleet administrators will easily track logs with the applied agricultural exception and unregulated trips to monitor miles recorded under the exception.

     

    Note: The automatic duty status change functionality is subject to restrictions outlined in the functional specifications, specifically in scenarios detailed in sections 4.4.1.1 and 4.4.1.2. It is important to note that the Agriculture exception within a 150-mile radius is currently excluded from the permissible automatic duty status changes.

    Motive's implementation adheres strictly to the regulations outlined in section 4.4 (ELD Processing and Calculations) to guarantee compliance for our customers.

     

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