As Americans celebrate the environment 41 years after the first Earth Day, Virginia farmers are looking back and noting how far they’ve come in that same time period.

The American Farm Bureau Federation filed a lawsuit Jan. 10 in federal court to block the implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new "nutrient diet" regulatory plan for the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

A new report that compares the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s computer model of Chesapeake Bay clean-up efforts with conservation records from the U.S. Department of Agriculture has found numerous inconsistencies, calling into question the entire EPA "nutrient diet" proposal for the bay watershed.

If Congress pushes through proposed Chesapeake Bay legislation during its lame duck session, Virginia farmers could face billions of dollars in additional expenses.

Law enforcement officers in North Carolina have begun ticketing Virginia farmers who travel across the state line in vehicles with "farm use" plates that identify an unregistered farm vehicle.