Washington, DC —
Senator John Thune announced today that the United States Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency (FSA) will provide $1,963,000 in Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) funding for farmers and ranchers suffering from drought conditions in 18 South Dakota counties.
"This is a good start at real drought relief that is badly needed in counties across South Dakota," said Thune. "I have toured a number of the counties affected by the drought and my staff is working closely with farmers and ranchers to make sure we have the information we need to be of assistance. This needs to be the beginning of drought relief and I am working closely with officials in the Department of Agriculture to make sure additional resources and funds are made available."
Counties included in the ECP are: Campbell, Corson, Dewey, Edmunds, Faulk, Haakon, Hand, Hughes, Hyde, McPherson, Meade, Pennington, Potter, Sanborn, Stanley, Sully, Walworth, and Ziebach.
Producers should contact their local FSA office regarding ECP eligibility questions and sign-up periods, which are set by county FSA committees. For a producer's land to be eligible, the disaster must create new conservation problems that would impair or endanger the land, materially affect its productive capacity, represent damage that is unusual in character, and be so costly to rehabilitate that federal assistance is required to return the land to productive agricultural use in order to be eligible.
"This is a good start at real drought relief that is badly needed in counties across South Dakota," said Thune. "I have toured a number of the counties affected by the drought and my staff is working closely with farmers and ranchers to make sure we have the information we need to be of assistance. This needs to be the beginning of drought relief and I am working closely with officials in the Department of Agriculture to make sure additional resources and funds are made available."
Counties included in the ECP are: Campbell, Corson, Dewey, Edmunds, Faulk, Haakon, Hand, Hughes, Hyde, McPherson, Meade, Pennington, Potter, Sanborn, Stanley, Sully, Walworth, and Ziebach.
Producers should contact their local FSA office regarding ECP eligibility questions and sign-up periods, which are set by county FSA committees. For a producer's land to be eligible, the disaster must create new conservation problems that would impair or endanger the land, materially affect its productive capacity, represent damage that is unusual in character, and be so costly to rehabilitate that federal assistance is required to return the land to productive agricultural use in order to be eligible.