The Agricultural Exemption: How It Works and How to Log It

Most hours-of-service exceptions loosen one rule or another. The agricultural exemption is different: when it applies, the hours-of-service rules do not apply at all. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration sets it out at 49 CFR 395.1(k), and the operative words are blunt — the provisions of Part 395 “shall not apply” during planting and harvesting periods to drivers hauling agricultural commodities, farm supplies, or livestock within a 150 air-mile radius. No 11-hour limit, no 14-hour window, no 30-minute break, no 60/70-hour cycle, and no log for that portion of the work. This guide covers what qualifies, where the radius is measured from, and the question drivers ask most: how to record that time on a paper log or an ELD.

The four hauls the exemption covers

49 CFR 395.1(k) lists four distinct operations, and it helps to keep them separate because the radius is anchored differently in each:

• Agricultural commodities from the source of the commodities to a location within a 150 air-mile radius of that source. The radius is drawn around the source, typically the farm or first point of loading.
• Farm supplies from a wholesale or retail distribution point to a farm or other place they will be used, within a 150 air-mile radius of the distribution point.
• Farm supplies from a wholesale distribution point to a retail distribution point, again within 150 air miles of the wholesale point.
• Livestock, within a 150 air-mile radius of the livestock's final destination. Note the anchor flips here: for livestock the circle is drawn around where the animals are going, not where they came from.

Air miles are straight-line distance, the same measure used by the 150 air-mile short-haul exemption. Your odometer can read well past 150 road miles while you are still inside the circle.

What counts as an agricultural commodity

The definition in 49 CFR 395.2 is broader than most drivers expect. It covers any non-processed food, feed, fiber, or livestock, plus horticultural products at risk of perishing or degrading in quality during transport — the regulation names plants, sod, flowers, shrubs, ornamentals, seedlings, live trees, and Christmas trees. Livestock uses the federal definition from the Emergency Livestock Feed Assistance Act and even includes insects, so bee haulers qualify. The dividing line is processing: raw grain qualifies, flour does not; livestock qualifies, boxed beef does not.

Planting and harvesting periods

The exemption only operates “during planting and harvesting periods, as determined by each State.” Each state defines its own season, and many states have designated the entire calendar year, which makes the exemption effectively year-round there. Others genuinely restrict it to a window of months. Before relying on the exemption, confirm the designated period for each state you run in — the season that matters is the one for the state where you are operating.

What the exemption does inside the radius

While you are hauling a qualifying load inside the radius during the designated season, Part 395 simply is not running. Driving and on-duty time are not limited, the 30-minute break is not required, and you do not need to keep a record of duty status or use an ELD for that work. FMCSA's published guidance extends this to the empty legs too: driving an unladen truck to the source to pick up a qualifying load, and the unloaded return trip, are covered for the portion inside the radius, provided the trip carries no non-agricultural cargo.

Just as important is what the guidance says about your clocks: time spent working under the exemption does not count toward the 11-hour, 14-hour, or 60/70-hour limits. If you spend four hours hauling grain inside the circle and then take a load beyond it, those four hours do not eat into the driving time available for the rest of the trip.

Crossing the 150 air-mile line

The moment you drive beyond the radius, the hours-of-service rules apply from that point forward, and once they begin to apply on a trip they continue to apply for the duration of that trip. Your available hours at the line are what a rested driver would have, minus nothing for the exempt work — but everything after the line counts normally, so plan the long leg the way you would plan any regulated day: enough hours to reach the destination, a compliant place to shut down, and a log that starts cleanly.

How to log it: off duty, on duty, or not at all

This is the question that generates the most confusion, because exempt time is technically neither on duty nor off duty — it is time the rules do not measure. In practice it comes down to what equipment you run:

• If you operate only inside the radius, you are not required to keep a record of duty status at all for that work. Many drivers still note “exempt — 49 CFR 395.1(k) agricultural operations” on a paper log or in the carrier's time records so a roadside inspection has a paper trail, and that is good practice, not a requirement.
• If you run an ELD because part of your work is non-exempt, FMCSA guidance allows several approaches. You can stay logged out until you reach the edge of the radius, then reject the miles the device captured as unidentified driving while the carrier annotates that they occurred under the agricultural exemption. You can log in when you come on duty and annotate the exempt mileage. Or you can record the exempt movement under a special driving category with an annotation and switch to normal duty statuses at the line. No single method is mandated — consistency and a clear annotation are what an inspector wants to see.
• Many ELD platforms now ship an agricultural-exemption or exempt-driver ruleset that flags the time for you. If yours does, use it — it keeps the exempt hours from being counted against your clocks automatically.

What you should not do is quietly bury exempt work as ordinary off-duty time with no explanation, or let it post as on-duty time that wrongly burns your 60/70-hour cycle. The first invites a falsification conversation at roadside; the second gives away hours you are entitled to keep. Label the time for what it is and the exemption works exactly as written.

Do not confuse it with the short-haul exemption

Two different rules use a 150 air-mile circle, and they are easy to blur. The short-haul exemption in 395.1(e)(1) relieves qualifying local drivers of the log and the 30-minute break, but every driving and duty limit still applies. The agricultural exemption in 395.1(k) switches the rules off entirely for qualifying loads. The radius is also anchored differently: short-haul measures from your normal work reporting location; agricultural measures from the load's source, or for livestock its destination.

Where this fits

For the limits that apply the moment you leave the radius, see our plain-English overview of the hours-of-service rules and the 11-hour driving limit. For whether you need a logging device at all, see the ELD mandate and who is exempt.

A quick disclaimer

This article is a planning aid, not a compliance record or legal advice. The rules described here are current as of July 30, 2026, and may change. State planting and harvesting designations change, and whether a given load qualifies is fact-specific. Confirm the current rules with the FMCSA, your state, and your carrier before relying on the exemption. Start at the Big Rig Math home page to reach the tools.