USDA Emergency Assistance Available to Farmers and Ranchers in Okeechobee, Indian River, St, Lucie and Martin Counties - WQCS

Florida - Tuesday October 18, 2022: Okeechobee, Indian River, St, Lucie and Martin counties are each eligible for USDA's EQIP exigency assistance successful the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) tin supply payments, done conservation programme contracts to assistance cultivation landowners and producers retrieve from disasters connected their land.

NRCS State Conservationist Juan Hernandez has announced that USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is issuing aboriginal commencement waivers successful EQIP exigency declaration counties to expedite Hurricane Ian catastrophe betterment and to let commencement of cardinal conservation practices anterior to conservation programme declaration approvals.

Twenty-eight Florida counties person been identified for EQIP exigency assistance:  Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Clay, Collier, Desoto, Flagler, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Lee, Manatee, Martin, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Polk, Putnam, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie, and Volusia.

Agricultural producers and landowners funny successful submitting an EQIP application, and who are incapable to scope their section NRCS office, tin interaction the NRCS State Office astatine (352) 338-9500 oregon email SM.NRCS.FL.DISASTERINFO@USDA.GOV to taxable the pursuing information:

• Location wherever assistance is requested (county, city, and large crossroads)
• Contact sanction and email address
• Phone fig (state if mobile/cell; capable to person calls and/or substance messages)
• Nature of request for assistance

“USDA remains committed to helping the radical of Florida agriculture with each means astatine our disposal. We tin assistance section farmers successful repairing damages to their onshore and existing conservation practices caused by Hurricane Ian.,” said Hernandez. “Through EQIP, we tin assistance farmers repair and forestall ungraded erosion, arsenic good arsenic code h2o prime issues oregon different assets concerns resulting from precocious rainfall events and flooding.”
Additional EQIP exigency assistance guidelines:

• An aboriginal commencement waiver is not a warrant of conservation programme payment.
• Waiver support is contingent upon enactment not having been started connected the conservation practice(s) earlier the day this waiver was approved.
• Producers are asked to record an EQIP exertion and a waiver earlier they commencement an EQIP conservation practice. Producers whitethorn taxable exertion responses by email oregon phone.
• Conservation practices indispensable conscionable NRCS standards and specifications for the shaper oregon landowner to person payment.
• EQIP conservation practices offered for fiscal assistance are listed below:

Additional resources:

* Environmental Quality Incentives Program: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/fl/programs/financial/eqip/

* Florida NRCS Field Office Locator: https://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app?state=F

* Florida NRCS: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/fl/home/

USDA tin besides assistance section authorities sponsors with the outgo of betterment efforts similar debris removal and streambank stabilization to code earthy assets concerns and hazards done the Emergency Watershed Protection Program.

On farmers.gov, the Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool , Disaster Assistance-at-a-Glance information sheet (PDF, 1.4 MB) and Farm Loan Discovery Tool tin assistance producers and landowners find programme oregon indebtedness options.

For assistance with a harvest security claim, producers and landowners should interaction their crop security agent. For FSA and NRCS programs, they should interaction their section USDA Service Center .

USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is besides acceptable to enactment with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and lasting by for requests for assistance from states and section authorities, to supply emergency nutrition assistance to radical successful need.