Farmers and ranchers will receive additional Emergency Conservation Program funds from USDA to repair farmland damaged by natural disasters in 2010. According to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, an additional $8.9 million is being provided to farmers and ranchers in affected areas. USDA's Farm Service Agency county committees determine if land is eligible for ECP by conducting on-site damage inspections.
Producers may use ECP assistance to remove farmland debris, restore fences, grade and shape land, and repair existing conservation structures damaged by drought, floods and other natural disasters and to implement emergency water conservation measures required because of severe drought.
For land to be eligible, the natural disaster must have created new conservation problems on that land, that: If untreated, will impair or endanger the land; Materially affects 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.