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FRANKFORT, Ky. — Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer today applauded the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to allocate more than $2.8 million to 43 Kentucky counties for relief from drought and tornado damage.
“We are grateful for this much-needed funding,” Commissioner Farmer said. “Many Kentucky farms have suffered because of natural disasters. This will help them get back on their feet.”
Kentucky received $2,666,100 for 40 counties for drought relief and $143,000 for three counties to address tornado damage. The Kentucky funds are part of a $20.1 million appropriation of Emergency Conservation Program funds from the USDA’s Farm Service Agency. Only Texas received more ECP funding than Kentucky in this allocation.
ECP gives producers 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. Locally-elected FSA county committees implement ECP for all disasters other than drought, which is done by FSA’s national office. Eligible producers receive cost-share assistance of up to 75 percent of the cost of approved practices, as determined by FSA county committees. The $20.1 million in ECP funds in this allocation is from unused funds from various states.
Producers can contact their local FSA offices regarding ECP sign-up periods, which are set by the county FSA committees. For a producer’s land to be eligible, the disaster must create new conservation problems that, if left untreated, would impair or endanger the land and affect its productive capacity. Conservation problems that existed before the applicable disasters are not eligible for ECP assistance.
USDA has several other programs to help farmers and ranchers recover from damages caused by natural disasters. These programs include the Emergency Loan Program, Federal Crop Insurance and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program.
More information on ECP and other disaster assistance programs is available at local FSA offices and online at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov. For a list of Kentucky counties that have had ECP funding allocated to them, go to www.fsa.usda.gov.
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