31.   President Clinton is appalled by the amendment but is not prepared to veto the long-awaited measure on which farmers ready to start the planting season are depending.

32.   Put simply, it sterilizes seeds, ensuring that farmers will come knocking for more seed each planting season.

33.   Pressure for a farm bill is mounting as the planting season draws near.

34.   Rural supplies of fuel, food and financial resources have been drastically depleted by months of firefighting, and the summer planting season has been seriously disrupted.

35.   Sherritt said it produced and sold more nickel and cobalt, which offset lower commodity prices, while a strong planting season led to increased fertilizer sales.

36.   That leaves farmers, and their bankers and suppliers, without a rulebook for the new planting season that will begin in a few weeks.

37.   The arrest of James Nichols came just before the start of planting season and last week, several neighbors seeded his fields.

38.   The Clinton administration, meanwhile, said it was confident remaining differences could be resolved, especially as the planting season approaches.

39.   The coming planting season for U.S. crops could send some of those speculators from the markets, analysts said.

40.   The immediate cash shortfall stems from lost fertilizer sales, as heavy rains soaked the Midwest and delayed the spring planting season.