23-603. Agricultural labor; definitions; exemption

A. "Agricultural labor" means and includes all service performed prior to January 1, 1972, that was agricultural labor as defined in this section prior to that date, and that remunerated service performed after December 31, 1971:

1. On a farm, in the employ of any person, in connection with cultivating the soil, or in connection with raising or harvesting any agricultural or horticultural commodity, including the raising, shearing, feeding, caring for, training and management of livestock, bees, poultry, and fur-bearing animals and wildlife.

2. In the employ of the owner or tenant or other operator of a farm, in connection with the operation, management, conservation, improvement or maintenance of the farm and its tools and equipment or in salvaging timber or clearing land of brush and other debris left by a hurricane, if the major part of the service is performed on a farm.

3. In connection with the production or harvesting of any commodity defined as an agricultural commodity in section 15(g) of the agricultural marketing act, as amended (46 Stat. 1550, sec. 3; 12 United States Code section 1141j), or in connection with the ginning of cotton or in connection with the operation or maintenance of ditches, canals, reservoirs or waterways, not owned or operated for profit, used exclusively for supplying and storing water for farming purposes.

4. In the employ of the operator of a farm in handling, planting, drying, packing, packaging, processing, freezing, grading, storing or delivering to storage or to market, or to a carrier for transportation to market, in its unmanufactured state, any agricultural or horticultural commodity, but only if the operator produced more than one-half of the commodity with respect to which the service is performed and only if the service is performed as an incident to ordinary farming operations or, in the case of fruits and vegetables, as an incident to the preparation of the fruits or vegetables for market.

5. In the employ of a group of operators of farms, or a cooperative organization of which the operators are members, in the performance of service described in paragraph 4 of this subsection, but only if the operators produced more than one-half of the commodity with respect to which the service is performed.

6. On a farm operated for profit if the service is not in the course of the employer's trade or business.

B. For the purposes of this section, "farm" includes stock, dairy, poultry, fruit, fur-bearing animal and truck farms and plantations, ranches, nurseries, ranges, greenhouses or other similar structures that are used primarily for raising agricultural or horticultural commodities, including orchards.

C. Notwithstanding section 23-617, paragraph 1, service as prescribed by subsection A of this section that is performed after December 31, 1977, by an individual who is an alien admitted to the United States to perform agricultural labor pursuant to sections 214(c) and 101(a)(15)(H) of the immigration and nationality act is exempt employment during any period in which it does not meet the definition of employment in section 23-615, subsection A, paragraph 10.

D. Subsection A, paragraphs 4 and 5 of this section do not apply to service performed in connection with commercial canning or commercial freezing or in connection with any agricultural or horticultural commodity after its delivery to a terminal market for distribution for consumption.