Washington-The Agricultural Retailers Association on May 22 sent a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood urging his continued support for the agriculture hours-of-service (HOS) exemption. Some organizations, including the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), have lobbied for the removal of the HOS exemption from a new surface transportation reauthorization bill (GM May 4, p. 15) on the grounds that it results in higher crash rates. “Today, more than ever, agriculture relies on an efficient transportation network to meet the demands of the market and consumers,” ARA’s Richard Gupton wrote in the letter to LaHood. “Crop yields are highly sensitive to the timing of planting and harvest activities, which must be accomplished around unpredictable weather. The HOS exemption for agriculture is critical to rural communities for transporting large quantities of farm inputs and products in a short amount of time. Without this agricultural exemption, retailers and farmers are likely to experience an adverse economic impact on their business operations and this could harm the nation’s production of agricultural cornmodities.” Gupton noted that the HOS exemption “operates only during peak planting and harvesting seasons as defined by each state and within a 100 air-mile radius from the source of the commodities or distribution point for the farm supplies.” ARA sent a similar letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack on May 28. Earlier this month, ARA joined The Fertilizer Institute, CropLife America, CHS Inc., and more than 45 trade associations in sending a May 14 letter to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee urging its support for the HOS exemption (GM May 18, p. 11).
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain