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Iowa cattlemen welcome PP cover crop changes

Iowa Cattlemen’s Association CEO Matt Deppe says they welcome the changes to the prevent plant cover crop regulations .

“We’re coming out of a winter that forages were really in tight supply, even all the way down to lower quality forages like corn stalks,” Deppe says. “So this was one of those pieces we’ve been working on to pull back that potential harvest date without any consequences to the producer that had insured acres.”

For this year only, farmers who plant a cover crop on prevented plant acres will be allowed to hay, graze or chop those fields on September 1st. Sileage, haylage and baleage will also be permitted.

In a normal year, farmers are not allowed to access the forage until November 1st and are not allowed to harvest the cover crop.