(a) Like other exemptions provided by the Act, the section 13(b)(12)
exemption is narrowly construed (Phillips, Inc. v. Walling, 334 U.S.
490; Bowie v. Gonzalez, 117 F. 2d 11; Calaf v. Gonzalez, 127 F. 2d 934;
Fleming v. Hawkeye Pearl Button Co., 113 F. 2d 52; Fleming v. Swift &
Co., 41 F. Supp. 825; Miller Hatcheries v. Boyer, 131 F. 2d 283; Walling
v. Friend, 156 F. 2d 429; see also Sec. 780.2 of subpart A of this part
780). An employer who claims the exemption has the burden of showing
that it applies. (See Sec. 780.2) The section 13(b)(12) exemption for
employment in agriculture is intended to cover all agriculture,
including ``extraordinary methods'' of agriculture as well as the more
conventional ones and large operators as well as small ones.
Nevertheless, it was meant to apply only to agriculture. It does not
extend to processes that are more akin to manufacturing than to
agriculture. Practices performed off the farm by nonfarmers are not
within the exemption, except for the irrigation activities specifically
described in section 13(b)(12). Practices performed by a farmer do not
come within the exemption for agriculture if they are neither a part of
farming nor performed by him as an incident to or in conjunction with
his own farming operations. These principles have been well established
by the courts in such cases as Mitchell v. Budd, 350 U.S. 473; Maneja v.
Waialua, 349 U.S. 254; Farmers Reservoir Co. v. McComb, 337 U.S. 755;
Addison v. Holly Hill Fruit Products, 322 U.S. 607; Calaf v. Gonzalez,
127 F. 2d 934; Chapman v. Durkin, 214 F. 2d 363, certiorari denied, 348
U.S. 897; McComb v. Puerto Rico Tobacco Marketing Co-op. Ass'n. 80 F.
Supp. 953, 181 F. 2d 697.
(b) When the Congress, in the 1961 amendments, provided special
exemptions for some activities which had been held not to be included in
the exemption for agriculture (see subparts F and J of this part 780),
it was made very clear that no implication of disagreement with ``the
principles and tests governing the application of the present
agriculture exemption as enunciated by the courts'' was intended
(Statement of the Managers on the part of the House, Conference Report,
H. Rept. No. 327, 87th Cong. first sess., p. 18). Accordingly, an
employee is considered an exempt agricultural or irrigation employee if,
but only if, his work falls clearly within the specific language of
section 3(f) or section 13(b)(12).
