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WASHINGTON, Sept. 27, 2017 - As lawmakers are preparing to write the next farm bill, they're strapped for the cash they need to cover a long list of demands. One source of money is to require farmers to update their crop base acreage, which determines what they receive in commodity payments, but the idea would face significant political challenges.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27, 2017 - Farmers from Maryland to Illinois are turning their soil into a kind of sponge and absorbing the benefits: Planting cover crops such as cereal rye and varieties of radish during harvest season can simultaneously enhance the soil and increase yield. New studies support what farmers and agronomists have been saying for years – that cover crops reduce nutrient runoff, improve soil health and, most important for farmers, increase yields.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27, 2017 - University of Illinois experts say lawmakers should consider using the next farm bill to lift restrictions that may discourage farmers from planting cover crops to reduce soil erosion.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27, 2017 - A coalition of environmental groups, joined by the National Farmers Union and National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, want Congress to tighten enforcement of conservation compliance, increase spending on conservation programs and revise crop insurance rules to encourage more farmers to plant cover crops.

WASHINGTON, September 27, 2017—Livestock haulers have lost discretionary control over their livelihoods and risk endangering the lives of the animals they transport because of a one-size-fits-all Department of Transportation Hours of Service (HOS) rule and the Electronic Logging Device that aggressively monitors it, industry experts and agricultural groups say.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27, 2017 - As many as 350,000 corn growers nationwide are likely to get a payment as the result of a settlement of lawsuits alleging Syngenta’s premature commercialization of a genetically engineered trait caused China to reject U.S. corn imports in 2013.