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USDA announces changes to cover crop harvest rules | Agweek

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USDA announces changes to cover crop harvest rules | Agweek

WASHINGTON — Agricultural producers with crop insurance can hay, graze or chop cover crops for silage, haylage or baleage at any time and still receive 100% of the prevented planting payment, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Tuesday, July 6.

Previously, cover crops could only be hayed, grazed or chopped after Nov. 1; if they were used earlier the prevented planting payment was reduced by 65%.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency added this flexibility as part of a broader effort to encourage producers to use cover crops, an important conservation and good farming practice. Cover crops are especially important on fields prevented from planting as they help reduce soil erosion and boost soil health.
Thematic Map: Clinton County, NY Municipalties

The horrible thing you never knew about ducks

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The horrible thing you never knew about ducks

On the Venn diagram of strange animal mating behaviors — from lobster golden showers to garter-snake orgies — duck sex is on the border between cartoonish and sadistic.

That’s right, our beloved mallards engage in some seriously disturbing mating behavior. The “dark side” of duck mating has its own chapter in the new book “The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin’s Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World — and Us” by Yale ornithology professor Richard O. Prum. It’s a controversial subject, earning notoriety in 2013 after news leaked that the federal government contributed $400,000 to study the mating habits of ducks — dubbed “duckpenisgate” by Mother Jones.