Meat+Poultry - March 2018 - 8

C O M M E N TA R Y

Yielding to logic
While the meat and poultry processing
industry's ongoing struggle to maintain
a stable workforce continues, another
labor-related issue has advanced from
rear-view-mirror status to becoming
a potential detour that stakeholders
expect will cost millions and create an
animal welfare pothole.
With an already shrinking pool of
truck drivers pushing logistical costs
up, livestock haulers were bracing for
the impact of this month's expiration
of a 90-day waiver period (effective
March 18) that would require trucks to
be equipped with Electronic Logging
Devices (ELDs) to verify compliance
with the US Dept. of Transportation's
Hours of Service (HOS) regulations.
In mid-December, more than 3 million
commercial truckers were subject
to the ELD mandate, however, the
National Pork Producers Council
(NPPC) successfully lobbied the DOT
to grant drivers of livestock trucks a
90-day reprieve due to the nature of
the freight they haul. More lobbying
went on in favor of and against the
mandate during those 90 days, as both
sides weighed in on electronically
enforcing HOS rules that limit driving
time to 11 hours per day and limit
drivers from being on duty for more
than 14 hours during a 24-hour period.

Once those limits are reached, drivers
must immediately pull over and wait
10 hours before resuming their trip.
This is inconvenient for the mattress
hauler, but simply not feasible for
livestock haulers whose first priority
is the welfare of their load. The
attempt at replacing hand-written,
paper logs with an electronic solution,
which costs upwards of $1,000 to
install each device and about $50
per month to maintain, solves one
part of a challenging equation while
complicating others.
"They've applied a one-size-fits-all
solution," said Michael Formica,
assistant vice president and legal
council, domestic policy for the NPPC.
Eighteen days from the day
when everyone would find out if an
exemption would be granted, Formica
said his initial optimism about that
prospect was tempered after a flurry
of other exemption petitions were
filed with the DOT by other groups
that represent other segments in
agriculture, including haulers of grain,
feed, fertilizer and chemicals. "There
is a lot of pressure that if they give us
one they're going to have to grant many
more," Formica said. But, as he pointed
out, the driver pulling a trailer full of
feed that would be required to pull over
after hitting the HOS threshold doesn't
have the burden of considering the
well-being of scores of animals that
livestock haulers have.

"If worse comes to worst and your
truck full of corn has to sit on the side
of the road for 10 hours, it's annoying
but it's not the end of the world,"
Formica said. "It's not a truck full of
pigs or a truck full of cattle."
Just 18 days from the expiration
of the waiver, Formica didn't have an
indication as to whether or not the
ELD mandate would be forced on the
livestock truckers. Regardless of the
outcome, he makes the bigger point that
needs to be addressed: Current HOS
rules need to be modified to ensure
safety on roadways for all freight,
without compromising animal welfare
standards for drivers hauling livestock.
Proponents of the regulation,
including the American Trucking
Association, highlight the fact that an
electronic solution is overdue, as it
was a proposed rule in 2007 designed
to replace cumbersome paper logs
and eliminate fraudulent reporting
while addressing the safety hazards
of drowsy driving. HOS-compliant
drivers with nothing to hide stand only
to benefit from the ELD mandate, ATA
maintains. Formica and I agree with the
ATA on the importance of safety but
are bullish on the fact that the solution
must include logic-based flexibility
and exemptions of the HOS rules that
reflect the unique priorities of drivers
responsible for cargo that moos,
squeals or clucks.
J O E L C R E WS, E D I TO R | j c r e w s @ s o s l a n d .c o m

"If worse comes to worst and your truck full of
corn has to sit on the side of the road for 10 hours,
it's annoying, but it's not the end of the world. It's
not a truck full of pigs or a truck full of cattle."
- MICHAEL FORMICA

8

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Meat+Poultry - March 2018

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