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USDA provides $1 million in ECP funds to South Dakota producers

Tom Kostel, Acting State Executive Director for USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) in South Dakota announced that farmers and ranchers will receive approximately $1 million in Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) funds to repair dams damaged by flooding that occurred in the spring of 2009.

Producers with land affected by flash flooding that is physically located in Butte, Corson, Dewey, Harding, Lawrence, Meade, Pennington, Perkins, and Ziebach counties in South Dakota may be eligible to receive ECP funds.

“USDA is committed to assisting South Dakota farmers and ranchers with the restoration of dams devastated by disaster conditions,” said Kostel. “FSA county offices are accustomed to working with producers during disasters, and are ready to assist with the recovery process.”



For land to be eligible, the natural disaster must have created conservation problems that, if untreated, would:

• impair or endanger the land;



• materially affect the land’s productive capacity;

• represent unusual damage that, except for wind erosion, is not likely to recur frequently in the same area; and

• be so costly to repair that federal assistance is or will be required to return the land to productive agricultural use.

All of the above conditions must be met for land to be eligible. Conservation issues that existed prior to the disaster are not eligible for cost-share assistance. FSA county committees determine land eligibility based on on-site inspections of damage, taking into account the type and extent of damage.

A detailed list of counties and associated specific disasters is available on FSA’s website at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/ecpcounties3.pdf.

A national map with a visual depiction of the affected counties and disaster type is on FSA’s website at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/ecpmap3.pdf.

For further information on eligibility requirements as well as applications, producers can visit their local FSA office or online at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.