Employees of a grower of nursery stock who work in packing and
storage sheds sorting the stock, grading and trimming it, racking it in
bins, and packing it for shipment are employed in ``agriculture''
provided they handle only products grown by their employer and their
activities constitute an established part of their employer's
agricultural activities and are subordinate to his farming operations.
Such employees are not employed in agriculture when they handle the
products of other growers (Mitchell v. Huntsville Nurseries, 267 F. 2d
286; Jordan v. Stark Bros. Nurseries & Orchards Co., 45 F. Supp. 769).
Agricultural activities
would typically include employees engaged in the balling and storing of
shrubs and trees grown in the nursery. Where a grower of nursery stock
operates, as a separate enterprise, a processing establishment or an
establishment for the wholesale of retail distribution of such
commodities, the employees in such separate enterprise are not engaged
in agriculture (see Walling v. Rocklin, 132 F. 2d 3; Mitchell v.
Huntsville Nurseries, 267 F. 2d 286). Although the handling and the sale
of nursery commodities by the grower at or near the place where they
were grown may be incidental to his farming operations, the character of
these operations changes when they are performed in an establishment set
up as a marketing point to aid the distribution of those products.
