[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR780.105]

[Page 567-568]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 780_EXEMPTIONS APPLICABLE TO AGRICULTURE, PROCESSING OF AGRICULTURAL 
 
                 Subpart B_General Scope of Agriculture
 
Sec. 780.105  ``Primary'' and ``secondary'' agriculture under section 
3(f).

    (a) Section 3(f) of the Act contains a very comprehensive definition 
of the term ``agriculture.'' The definition has two distinct branches 
(see Farmers Reservoir Co. v. McComb, 337 U.S. 755). One has relation to 
the primary meaning of agriculture; the other gives to the term a 
somewhat broader secondary meaning for purposes of the Act (NLRB v. Olaa 
Sugar Co., 242 F. 2d 714).
    (b) First, there is the primary meaning. This includes farming in 
all its branches. Listed as being included ``among other things'' in the 
primary meaning are certain specific farming operations such as 
cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying the production, 
cultivation, growing and harvesting of any agricultural or horticultural 
commodities and the raising of livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals or 
poultry. If an employee is employed in any of these activities, he is 
engaged in agriculture regardless of whether he is employed by a farmer 
or on a farm. (Farmers Reservoir Co. v. McComb, supra; Holtville Alfalfa 
Mills v. Wyatt, 230 F. 2d 398.)
    (c) Then there is the secondary meaning of the term. The second 
branch includes operations other than those which fall within the 
primary meaning of the term. It includes any practices, whether or not 
they are themselves farming practices, which are performed either by a 
farmer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with ``such'' 
farming operations (Farmers Reservoir Co. v. McComb, supra; NLRB v. Olaa 
Sugar Co., 242 F. 2d 714; Maneja v. Waialua, 349 U.S. 254).
    (d) Employment not within the scope of either the primary or the 
secondary meaning of ``agriculture'' as defined in section 3(f) is not 
employment in agriculture. In other words, employees not employed in 
farming or by a farmer or on a farm are not employed in agriculture.

[[Page 568]]

             Exemption for ``Primary'' Agriculture Generally