JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri officials pushed last week for an extension to file paperwork needed for farmers to receive crop insurance, coverage the governor and attorney general said is necessary amid heavy rainfall and flooding.

Attorney General Chris Koster filed a lawsuit after the USDA notified the state July 15 that the agency had denied Gov. Jay Nixon’s request for an extension. At issue was a final deadline that day for some northwestern Missouri farmers to file acreage reports required to receive crop insurance.

State officials said severe rainfall and flooding this year meant farmers delayed planting and consequently missed the filing deadline. Koster’s lawsuit asks a federal court to require the agriculture agency give farmers 15 additional days to file reports.

The USDA said by law it cannot extend the deadline, but that it will work with farmers to help them maintain coverage. Nixon has encouraged farmers to keep filing their paperwork while the lawsuit is processed.

Court: Farm workers entitled to break pay

SEATTLE, Wash. (AP) — Farm workers who are paid by how much they pick are entitled to separate, additional pay for their rest breaks, the Washington Supreme Court said Thursday in a unanimous opinion that could have major implications for the state’s agriculture industry – as well as other businesses where workers are paid by task rather than by time.

But it’s unclear whether the ruling will actually result in the workers being paid more, or whether companies will simply restructure the way they pay. The decision came in a case involving Sakuma Brothers Farms, a berry farm in Skagit County, north of Seattle. Some of the farm’s pickers – seasonal, migrant workers, mainly from Mexico – filed a federal class-action lawsuit in 2013, saying they were entitled to paid rest breaks under state law.

Sakuma Brothers agreed to pay the 900 workers and their lawyers $850,000 to settle the claims of unpaid back wages for rest breaks, but it denied further liability. The company said it agrees workers are entitled to paid rest breaks – 10 minutes every four hours – but said the amount it paid the pickers was inflated to already include compensation for rest breaks.

The Washington justices also made clear that companies must pay the workers the rate they make when they’re picking, rather than simply paying them the minimum wage during rest breaks.

In an emailed statement, Sakuma Brothers noted it’s paying $10 an hour plus a bonus of up to $30 per hour based on the number of pounds picked.