USDA To Provide Natural Disaster Aid

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) funds are being made available to farmers and ranchers in 14 states to repair farmland damaged by natural disasters in 2010.
“USDA is committed to helping farmers and ranchers restore conservation measures on farmland devastated by the recent floods, tornadoes and other disasters,” said Vilsack. “These funds will help producers recover from several potentially devastating events, and further USDA’s ongoing efforts to maintain a healthy agricultural economy that conserves our environment.”

Eligible producers in 14 states will be able to use the more than $12 million being made available through ECP to remove farmland debris, restore fences, grade and shape land, and repair conservation structures that were damaged by floods, tornadoes, or wildfires and to carry out emergency water conservation measures after severe drought.
For land to be eligible, the natural disaster must have damaged existing conservation measures that:

• if untreated will impair or endanger the land;
• materially affect the land’s productive capacity;
• represent unusual damage that, except for wind erosion, is not likely to recur frequently in the same area; and
• would be so costly to repair that federal assistance is or will be required to return the land to productive agricultural use.

All of the above conditions must be met for eligibility. Conservation problems that existed before the disaster are not eligible for cost-share assistance. USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) county committees determine land eligibility based on on-site inspections of damage, taking into account the type and extent of damage.

The states and estimated dollar amounts are:

State	Counties	Primary Disaster Type	Date Of Disaster	Approval Amount
Arkansas	Benton	Storm	5/13/10	$30,000
Connecticut	New London	Flood	3/29-3/30/10	$34,000
Hawaii	Hawaii	Drought	PFM	$88,000
Kentucky	Boyd, Butler, Carter, Casey, Christian, Elliot, Fleming, Greenup, Hart, Lawrence, Nelson, Rowan, Todd, Trigg, Lewis, Muhlenberg, Owen, and Washington	Flood	4/30-5/4/10	$2,296,000
Missouri	Ozark	Tornado	4/30/10	$140,000
Mississippi	Tishomingo and Union	Flood	5/1-5/2/10	$108,000
Mississippi	Benton	Tornado	5/1-5/2/10	$20,000
Mississippi	Marshall	Tornado	4/30-5/10/10	$40,000
New Hampshire	Strafford and Rockingham	Storm	2/25/10	$21,000
Oklahoma	Grant	Tornado	5/10/10	$64,000
Rhode Island	Kent and Washington	Flood	3/29-4/2/10	$6,000
Tennessee	Benton, Carroll, Cheatham, Chester, Clay, Crockett, Davidson, Decatur, DeKalb, Dickson, Fayette, Gibson, Hardin, Haywood, Henderson, Hickman, Houston, Humphreys, Jackson, Lawrence, Lewis, Macon, Madison, Maury, McNairy, Montgomery, Perry, Roberston, Rutherford, Shelby, Smith, Stewart, Sumner, Tipton, Trousdale, Wayne, Williamson, Wilson	Flood	5/1-5/2/10	$8,980,000
Tennessee	Decatur	Tornado	4/24/10	$40,000
Washington	Okanogan	Wildfire	8/8-8/21/09	$161,000
Totals				$12,028,000

Click here to see a national map depicting counties receiving FSA funds and disaster types.

Additional ECP requests will be processed as funds become available.
Source: USDA news release