USDA PROVIDES KENTUCKY WITH EMERGENCY CONSERVATION PROGRAM FUNDING Media Contact: Jillene Johnson (202) 720-9733

NEWS UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Office of Communications News Room 460-A Washington, DC 20250-1300 Internet: News@usda.gov Phone: 202-720-9035 World Wide Web Home Page: http://www.usda.gov Release No. 0169.04 Alisa Harrison (202) 720-4623 Jillene Johnson (202) 720-9733 USDA PROVIDES KENTUCKY WITH EMERGENCY CONSERVATION PROGRAM FUNDING WASHINGTON, April 27, 2004 -- Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman today announced that USDA has provided Kentucky with $4.2 million in Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) funding for ice storm damage that occurred in February 2003. "These funds will help farmers and ranchers rehabilitate farmland damaged by the storm," Veneman said. "The program provides for technical assistance to help producers remove debris from farmland, restore fences and conservation structures, provide water for livestock in drought situations and grade and shape farmland damaged by a natural disaster. USDA is providing these funds as a result of unused allocations from other states." ECP is administered by USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) state and county committees. Locally-elected county committees are authorized to implement ECP for all disasters except drought, which is authorized at the national office of FSA. ECP funds may, in some cases, be used to cover requests already approved for which funding was previously unavailable. Eligible producers will receive cost-share assistance of up to 75 percent of the cost of the approved practice, as determined by FSA county committees. Producers should check with their local FSA offices regarding ECP sign-up periods, which are set by the county FSA committees. The committees determine producer eligibility based on on-site inspections of damage. For a producer's land to be eligible, the disaster must create new conservation problems that, if untreated, would impair or endanger the land and affect its productive capacity. Conservation problems existing prior to the applicable disaster are ineligible for ECP assistance. USDA offers additional programs to help farmers and ranchers recover from damages caused by natural disasters. These programs include the Emergency Loan Program, Federal Crop Insurance, Crop Disaster Program and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program. More information on ECP and other disaster assistance programs is available at local FSA offices and online at: http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov #