STILLWATER – Recent extreme weather conditions have impacted farmers and ranchers in Oklahoma and surrounding States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has disaster assistance programs available to help agricultural producers recover after natural disasters, including the recent floods and tornadoes.
USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Service THE RAIN ON THE PLAINS has been devasting according to state agricultural officials. Wheat harvest has been affected and how the planting and growing season for corn or a switch to soybeans is now anyone's guess. This flooded field is located in Comanche County, southwest of the Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport.Disaster assistance available to aid farmers, ranchers impacted by recent flooding, tornadoes(NRCS) and Risk Management Agency (RMA) offer programs that help producers recover losses, rehabilitating farms and ranches and managing risk.
RECOVERING LOSSES
FSA offers many programs to help producers recover from losses, including the Livestock Indemnity Program, the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Pro-gram, Emergency Forest Restoration Program and the Tree Assistance Program.Producers located in counties receiving a primary or contiguous disaster designation are eligible for low-interest emergency loans to help them recover from production and physical losses.
REHABILITATING FARMS, RANCHES
NRCS provides technical and financial assistance through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and other conservation programs to help producers recover and build resilience to better weather future disasters.
“NRCS can be a very valuable partner to help landowners with their recovery effort,” said State Conservationist Gary O’Niell, State Conservationist for the NRCS in Oklahoma. “Our staff will work one-on-one with land-owners to make assessments of the damages and develop approaches that focus on effective recovery of the land.”
Meanwhile, the FSA Emergency Conservation Program provides funding and technical assistance for farmers and ranchers to rehabilitate farmland damaged by natural disasters.
Producers with coverage through federal crop insurance should contact their agent for issues regarding filing claims. Those who purchased crop insurance will be paid for covered losses.
“Producers should report crop damage within 72 hours of damage discovery and follow up in writing within 15 days,” RMA Regional Director Jim Bellmon said.
USDA offers a disaster assistance discovery tool that walks producers through five ques-tions to help them identify personalized results. For more information on disaster assistance programs, contact your local USDA service center or farmers.gov/recover.