In late 2017, President Trump directed the U.S. Trade Representative to begin consultation under the U.S. – Korea Free Trade Agreement. At that time, there was also some speculation that the United States might withdraw from the agreement. After just several negotiating rounds, the United States and the Republic of Korea reached an agreement in principle ...
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the requirement that raisin growers to set aside a portion of their crop to be placed in reserve to control price and supply was in violation of the Constitution. The Courts said the marketing order violated the Fifth Amendment prohibition that requires the government pay just compensation ...
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Electronic Logging Device (ELD’s) rule is scheduled to go into effect on December 18, 2017, requiring commercial drivers to maintain hours-of-service logs electronically instead of using handwritten logs. However, in recent days, FMCSA has announced a 90-day waiver from the ELD requirement for agriculture, pending the publication of…
On Monday December 18, 2017, the mandatory Electronic Logging Device (ELD) regulation for carriers went into effect. The mandate is simple — it only changes the way a carrier logs its hours of service, requiring commercial drivers to maintain hours-of-service logs electronically instead of through handwritten logs. The onus of compliance rests with the carrier, ...
While disputes in the produce industry are rare, when they occur, we realize you need a quick answer from an experienced resource to provide you with practical guidance. For over 50 years, Western Growers has been that trusted resource that can provide you with timely answers to your questions. With real time guidance, as well as practical ...
Since the implementation of the ELD mandate for interstate commerce on December 18, 2017, agriculture carriers continue to operate under a temporary partial exemption, pending a formal resolution from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which is currently accepting comments. Western Growers is finalizing its further comments, which will be filed before the February ...
Western Growers filed comments with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) today for broad interstate commerce agricultural exemption involving the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) and Hours of Service. The comments include a request to make permanent the exemption to ELDs when the carrier is transporting agricultural commodities, and also requests a broader definition of ...
It is the responsibility of the buyer/receiver to secure a USDA inspection when it claims that the product fails to make good delivery on an FOB no grade contract, or fails to meet the contracted grade standard when sold as to a specified grade. The buyer sharing his or her passionate viewpoint of the extent ...
The Federal Motor Carrier Administration has announced that it will provide agricultural carriers with an additional 90-day waiver to the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate. The current waiver is scheduled to expire March 18, 2018. However, with FMCSA granting the additional 90-day waiver, agricultural carriers will be able to continue transporting under the ELD exemption until ...
Sometimes, what we view as a routine sales transaction, or at least appears to be a rather basic sale, can end up getting complicated when you hit an interpretation snag at contract destination. This can especially be true when the sales contract may be more than a simple straight load involving a standard commodity sold ...
The answer is yes and no. Yes, you retain Trust rights providing that your invoice reflects payment terms as PACA Prompt or Net 10 Days. This protection allowing for printed language on the invoice is extended to licensees of the PACA. All other non-licensees are required to submit a written statement to preserve Trust rights. ...
Editor’s Note: Since this article was published there have been further updates to report. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has issued regulatory guidance on June 7, 2018 to clarify the applicability of the “Agricultural Commodity” exception with the “Hours of Service of Drivers.” To read more on the updated guidance language, please click ...
Contract negotiations can many times become a daily routine that can lend to complacency. As a reminder, unless you use precise and clear language on any special terms that you want to be a fundamental requirement at time of contract negotiations, you are vulnerable to those terms having not been agreed upon. Therefore, selling and ...
Western Growers members should be aware that the Dispute Resolution Corporation (DRC) has recently expelled Karl Logistics Inc. (Karl Logistiques Inc.) from its membership for failing to provide information as requested and not paying its debts. If any Western Growers members are considering selling Karl Logistics or have questions about potential implications of business with ...
There needs to be timely notification in order to have an effective rejection by your customer, the receiver. While, you as the shipper, may have an obligation to take back the shipment, keep in mind that if it is later determined the rejection was wrongful, your customer could be held liable for the original contract ...
In the last blog (What is Considered Timely Notice for an Effective Rejection?) as indicated by the title, we discussed what constitutes a proper, timely and effective rejection by your customer. Unfortunately, your customer may not always follow the PACA guidelines when it comes to rejecting a shipment. So while you, as the shipper, have ...
Many of you that subscribe to the bi-monthly Produce Insights have no doubt been following the ELD mandate and the impact to transporting produce over the past several months, which was first reported in the then titled Tommy O Blog on November 22, 2017. While Western Growers over the last six months has been reporting ...
What Constitutes misbranding? Misbranding, in its most elementary form, is a misrepresentation of what is being sold and shipped. As it relates to a sales contract, PACA defines it as a violation of section 2(5) to misrepresent by word, act, mark, stencil, label, statement, or deed, the character, kind, grade, quality, quantity, size, pack, weight, ...
Now that the dust has somewhat settled we thought it appropriate in this blog to provide clarification, and hopefully eliminate some of the misconceptions and confusion over the use of the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) and how the Hours-of-Service (HOS) is administered by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to agricultural commodities, specifically produce. ...
Many Western Growers members will routinely request help with providing an internal check list of questions for shippers to ask when produce arrives at contract destination and there has been an USDA or CFIA inspection secured. Such a document is a best practice in order to establish an expected discipline with your sales staff to, as ...