<p>WASHINGTON DC (June 12, 2020) &mdash; Representatives Dave Loebsack (D-IA) and Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) today led a bipartisan, bicameral letter to the US&nbsp;Department of Agriculture (USDA) urging it to exercise its authority to allow producers to graze or harvest cover crops on prevented plant acres prior to November 1.</p><p>&ldquo;While we do not expect nearly as many prevented plant acres as last year, we request that you again provide relief for producers by eliminating the penalties for grazing, haying, or chopping cover crops approved by USDA as long as the activities are outside of the primary nesting season,&rdquo;&nbsp;the members of Congress wrote.&nbsp;&ldquo;This would help ensure that producers have adequate sources of feed for the backlog of livestock due to the meat-processing capacity-shortfalls because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It would also encourage the adoption of cover crops, which improve soil health, suppress weeds, and reduce erosion. At a minimum, we encourage USDA to move up the date for grazing, haying, or chopping cover crops on these acres from November 1 to September 1 due to unprecedented environmental and economic circumstances.&rdquo;</p><p>Cosigning the letter were Reps&nbsp;Ralph Abraham (R-LA), Kelly Armstrong (R-ND), Don Bacon (R-NE), Jim Baird (R-IN), Mike Bost (R-IL), Cheri Bustos (D-IL), Angie Craig (D-MN), Rodney Davis (R-IL), Tom Emmer (R-MN), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Adrian Smith (R-NE), and Collin Peterson (D-MN) and Sens&nbsp;Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bob Casey (D-PA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Joni Ernst (R-IA), John Hoeven (R-ND), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Gary Peters (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), and Mike Rounds (R-SD).</p><p><u>Full text of the&nbsp;<a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.thune.senate.go... rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">letter</a>&nbsp;at link.</u></p>

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