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July 19, 2000 10:08 AM, EDT

When planting season starts, the hours-of-service clock stops ticking for agricultural haulers in 32 states as they take advantage of a 1995 federal law.

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That law exempts drivers hauling agricultural commodities and farm supplies during planting and harvesting season from the 10 hours of driving time during a 15-hour workday,maximum duty time and minimum off-duty time prescribed by the Department of Transportation.

That could change if revisions to the hours-of-service regulations proposed by DOT take effect.

DOT wants to limit the agricultural exemption to farmers within 100 miles of their farms. That could be devastating to transporters, said Fletcher R. Hall, executive director of the Agricultural Transporters Conference of American Trucking Associations. States such as California exempt truckers hauling fresh produce from fields in the central and northern part of the state to ports and rail terminals in Southern California. Those destinations lie more than 100 miles away from the farms.

For the full story, see the July 17 print edition of Transport Topics. .