March 28, 2024

Jasper County Approved for Emergency Conservation Program

NEWTON — The Emergency Conservation Program is administered by the Farm Service Agency and covers damage to farmland, conservation structures, as well as damage to land in the floodplain. Producers/landowners who have suffered terrace washouts, flood debris, including sand and silt deposits, in the fields, and other damage to eligible conservation structures, should contact the Jasper County FSA Office at (641) 792-5019 before starting any clean-up activities in those areas. Sign-up runs through Aug. 5.

Producers with damaged land will need to sign the required forms and have the land inspected prior to starting any work to repair the damage which will include technical assistance to determine what is needed to rehabilitate the cropland. Producers not completing the required forms and not having the damage inspected prior to starting the repairs could result in program ineligibility and cost share assistance could be denied.

ECP may provide up to 75 percent cost share assistance to agricultural producers when it is too costly to rehabilitate the land without Federal assistance.

The Jasper County Committee determines land eligibility based on on-site inspections of damage, taking into account the type and extent of damage. For land to be eligible, the natural disaster must create new conservation problems that, if untreated, would:

• Impair or endanger the land;

• Affect the land’s productive capacity;

•Represent unusual damage, which, except wind erosion, is not the type 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.

Conservation problems existing prior to the applicable disaster are ineligible for ECP assistance. FSA may provide cost share assistance to agricultural producers when it is too costly to rehabilitate the lands without Federal assistance. ECP participants receive cost share assistance of 75 percent of the cost to implement approved emergency conservation practices.

Producers are encouraged to contact the Jasper County Office at 709 First Ave W. in newton, call (641) 792-5019 for more information or visit www.fsa.usda.gov. USDA is an equal opportunity employee and provider.