2023 Montana Code Annotated › Title 39. Labor › Chapter 51. Unemployment Insurance › Part 2. Definitions › 39-51-205. Agricultural labor defined

39-51-205. Agricultural labor defined.
(1) The term "agricultural labor" includes all services performed prior to January 1, 1972, which was agricultural labor as defined in this section prior to such date and remunerated services performed after December 31, 1971:
(a) 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;
(b) 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 such 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 such service is performed on a farm;
(c) in connection with the production or harvesting of any commodity commonly known as agricultural commodities or in connection with the hatching of poultry or in connection with the operation or maintenance of ditches, canals, reservoirs, or waterways used exclusively for supplying and storing water for farming purposes, except where such ditches, canals, reservoirs, or waterways are owned and operated by government entities;
(d) in the employ of the operator of a farm or a group of operators of farms or a cooperative organization of which such operators are members 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 such operator or operators produced more than one-half of the commodity with respect to which such service is performed.
(2) The provisions of subsections (1)(a), (1)(b), (1)(c), and (1)(d) of this section shall not be deemed to be applicable with respect 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 or on a farm operated for profit if such service is not in the course of the employer's trade or business or is domestic service in a private home of the employer.
(3) As used in this section, the term "farm" includes stock, dairy, poultry, fruit, fur-bearing animals, and truck farms, plantations, ranches, nurseries, ranges, greenhouses, or other similar structures used primarily for the raising of agricultural or horticultural commodities and orchards.
History: En. Subd. (a) to (m), Sec. 19, Ch. 137, L. 1937; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 137, L. 1939; amd. Sec. 10, Ch. 164, L. 1941; amd. Sec. 5, Ch. 233, L. 1943; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 160, L. 1953; amd. Sec. 9, Ch. 164, L. 1955; amd. Sec. 11, Ch. 171, L. 1957; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 177, L. 1959; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 178, L. 1959; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 84, L. 1965; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 37, L. 1969; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 411, L. 1971; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 159, L. 1973; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 404, L. 1973; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 323, L. 1975; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 523, L. 1977; R.C.M. 1947, 87-148(part).