Summary

GAO reviewed the Farm Service Agency's (FSA) new rule on the Emergency Conservation Program. GAO found that (1) the rule amends the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) to implement the provisions of the Department of Defense, Emergency Supplemental Appropriation to Address Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, and Pandemic Influenza Act, 2006, and provides assistance to nursery, oyster, and poultry producers and non-industrial private forest landowners to rehabilitate public or private oyster reefs or farmland damaged by hurricanes during calendar year 2005; and (2) with the exception of filing the rule with GAO, FSA complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule.