An ``agricultural employee,'' for purposes of section 13(a)(14), may be defined as an employee employed in activities which are included in the definition of ``agriculture'' in section 3(f) of the Act (see Sec. 780.103), and who is employed in these activities with sufficient regularity or continuity to characterize him as a person who engages in them as an occupation. Isolated or sporadic instances of engagement by an employee in activities defined as ``agriculture'' would not ordinarily establish that he is an ``agricultural employee.'' His engagement in agriculture should be sufficiently substantial to demonstrate some dedication to agricultural work as a means of livelihood. Sec. 780.512 ``Employed in the growing and harvesting.''
Section 13(a)(14) exempts processing operations on shade-grown tobacco only when performed by agricultural employees ``employed in the growing and harvesting'' of such tobacco. The use of the term ``and'' in the phrase ``growing and harvesting'' may be in recognition of the fact that in the raising of shade-grown tobacco the two operations are typically intermingled; however, it is not considered that the word ``and'' would preclude a determination on the particular facts that an employee is qualified for the exemption if he is employed only in ``growing'' or only in ``harvesting.'' Employment in work other than growing and harvesting of shade-grown tobacco will not satisfy the requirement that the employee be employed in growing and harvesting, even if such work is on shade-grown tobacco and constitutes ``agriculture'' as defined in section 3(f) of the Act. For example, delivery of the tobacco by an employee of the farmer to the receiving platform of the bulking plant would be a ``delivery to market'' included in ``agriculture'' when performed by the farmer as an incident to or in conjunction with his farming operations (Mitchell v. Budd, 350 U.S. 473), but it would not be part of ``growing and harvesting.''