A bipartisan group of U.S. senators wrote the U.S. Department of Agriculture asking the department to speed up cover-crop guidelines from the 2018 farm bill and allow haying and grazing on prevent-planted acres earlier than normal.

 

In a letter to Bill Northey, USDA's undersecretary of Farm Production and Conservation, the senators called on USDA to allow more flexibility on "the arbitrary November 1 grazing/harvest date for cover crops planted on prevent plant acres." The Nov. 1 restriction "serves as a barrier to cover crop adaptation" especially in northern states where adverse weather could limit the possibility of haying or grazing those crops after Nov. 1. "A nationwide Nov. 1 haying-harvest date does not treat farmers equitably across the United States."

 

Farmers who take a prevented-planting claim are encouraged to plant cover crops but their indemnity drops to just 35% if they hay or graze those cover crops before Nov. 1.

 

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