October 22, 2018

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• Final Local FSA Offices Reopened
• Florida Producers in 17 Counties May be Eligible for Emergency Conservation Program Assistance
• SBA Business Recovery Centers (BRC)

Final Local FSA Offices Reopened

The Holmes and Jackson County FSA offices have reopened for normal business hours.

The Gadsden County Office will open at 8 am on Tuesday, October 23, 2018.

The Calhoun County Office is closed until further notice. Producers in Calhoun, Liberty, Gulf and Franklin counties will be serviced out of the Gadsden County Office.

2144 W Jefferson Street
Quincy, FL 32351-1905
850-627-6365 ext 2

Florida Producers in 17 Counties May be Eligible for Emergency Conservation Program Assistance

A hurricane has caused severe damage in the following counties: Walton, Holmes, Washington, Bay, Jackson, Calhoun, Gulf, Gadsden, Liberty, Franklin, Leon, Wakulla, Jefferson, Madison, Taylor, Lafayette and Dixie.

Farms and ranches suffering severe damage may be eligible for assistance under the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) administered by the local 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 fences
• 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 October 23, 2018 to December 21, 2018.

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 local County FSA Office at or visit www.fsa.usda.gov.

SBA Business Recovery Centers (BRC)

Questions?
Please contact your local FSA Office.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users).