The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) last week announced it was providing $589,600 in funding to assist farmers in seven New York counties that were affected by severe flooding earlier this year.
The money is being made available through the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) that is administered through the USDA”™s New York Farm Service Agency (FSA). The program provides farmers with cost-sharing resources to help remove debris from farmland, restore fences and conservation structures, and grade and shape farmland damaged by natural disasters. (In drought conditions, ECP can also be used to get water to livestock.) Eligible producers will receive cost-sharing assistance of up to 75 percent of the total cost.
On April 14, Columbia, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Schoharie, Ulster and Westchester counties all received record rainfall, with some counties reporting between 5.5 and 7 inches of rain within a 24-hour period. The rain caused already saturated areas to flood. In some areas, the flooding caused gully erosions, landslides and stream bank damage, along with silt and debris deposits in fields.
“It is a known fact that farmers work at the mercy of Mother Nature,” Patrick Hooker, state agriculture commissioner said in a statement. “This spring, the rain never ceased in the lower Hudson Valley, causing severe flooding that washed away productive top soil, left much debris and destroyed many valuable farm structures. These funds will be especially helpful in rehabilitating these essential farm assets.”
Property owners in the Hudson River Valley have received a total $18 million in federal aid to repair storm damage.
New Hampshire was hit hardest by the storm, racking up $25 million in federal damage payouts.
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