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Crop Year 2016 floods have caused severe damage across multiple areas of the County.
Farms
and ranches suffering severe damage may be eligible for assistance under the
Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) administered by the Rio Arriba County Farm Service
Agency (FSA).
For
land to be eligible, the natural disaster must create new conservation problems
that, if untreated, would:
-
be so costly to rehabilitate that Federal assistance is or
will be needed to return the land to productive agricultural use
- is unusual and is not the type that would recur frequently
in the same area
- affect the productive capacity of the farmland
- impair or endanger the land
A producer qualifying for ECP assistance may receive cost-share levels not to
exceed 75
percent of the eligible cost of restoration measures. No producer is eligible
for more than $200,000
cost sharing per natural disaster occurrence. The following types of measures
may be eligible:
- removing debris from farmland
-
grading, shaping, or releveling severely damaged farmland
-
restoring permanent fence
- restoring conservation structures and other similar installations
Producers
who have suffered a loss from a natural disaster may contact the local FSA
County Office
and request assistance from November 28th through December 23rd, 2016.
To
be eligible for assistance, practices must not be started until all of the
following are met:
- an application for cost-share assistance has been filed
-
the local FSA County Committee (COC) or its representative has conducted an onsite inspection of the damaged area
- the Agency responsible for technical assistance, such as the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), has made a needs determination, which may include cubic yards of earthmoving, etc., required for rehabilitation.
For
more information about ECP, please contact the
Rio Arriba County FSA Office at 505-753-3508 or visit www.fsa.usda.gov/sc.
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