By Michelle Rook
Ag Day
Farm groups have been working with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration agency for months to allow additional time on the road for truckers transporting livestock, insects and aquatic animals and make them exempt from some Hours-of-Service rules. The livestock industry will retain the 150-mile air radius exemption on the front and back of a shipment, but the agency has denied the HOS request which puts producers at a real disadvantage. It also couldn’t come at a worse time with a trucker shortage and pending rail strike.