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NEWS UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Office of Communications News Room 460-A Washington, DC 20250-1300 Internet: News @usda.gov Phone: 202-720-4623 World Wide Web Home Page: http://www.usda.gov
Release No. 0293.07
Contact: Stevin Westcott (202) 720-4178 Keith Williams (202) 720-4623
Funds Help Rehabilitate Land Adversely Affected By Tornados
WASHINGTON, Oct. 16, 2007 - Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner today announced that USDA is providing $2 million in Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) funds to assist eligible agricultural producers in Kansas to repair land damaged by tornados this spring.
"Farmers were among the Greensburg-area residents who suffered losses caused by last May's destructive tornados," said Conner. "These funds will help producers to restore their land and operations as that community continues the rebuilding process."
ECP provides producers additional resources to remove debris from farmland, restore fences and conservation structures, provide water for livestock in drought situations and grade and shape farmland damaged by a natural disaster. USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) state and county committees administer ECP. Locally-elected county committees are authorized to implement ECP for all disasters except drought, which is authorized at the national office of FSA. Eligible producers receive cost-share assistance of up to 75 percent of the cost of the approved practice as determined by FSA county committees.
Producers should check with their local FSA offices regarding ECP sign-up periods, which are set by FSA county committees. Conservation problems existing prior to the applicable disaster are ineligible for ECP assistance.
County FSA committees determine land eligibility based on on-site inspections of damage, taking into account the type and extent of damage. For land to be eligible, the natural disaster must create new conservation problems that, if untreated, would: - impair or endanger the land;
- materially affect the land's productive capacity;
- represent unusual damage which, except for wind erosion, is not the type likely to recur frequently in the same area; and
- be so costly to repair that Federal assistance is or will be required to return the land to productive agricultural use.
The "U.S. Troop Readiness, Veteran's Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007," (P.L. 110-28) provides for the funds. More information about ECP is available in the program fact sheet posted online at http://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/ecp1206.pdf or visit your local USDA Service Center.
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