Franklin farmers are among those to get drought assistance

By Staff
Melissa Cason
Franklin County is among the 28 counties scheduled to receive funding to help with cover cost of the damage caused by this summer's drought.
USDA Farm Service Agency State Executive Director Danny Crawford announced earlier this week that USDA will begin allocations of $1,049,300 in Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) funding to Barbour, Blount, Bullock, Calhoun, Clay, Cleburne, Colbert, Coosa, Dale, Elmore, Fayette, Franklin, Geneva, Henry, Jackson, Jefferson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Marion, Montgomery, Morgan, Pike, Randolph, Tallapoosa, Walker and Winston counties due to drought.
"This is one of several conservation programs that provide funding for farmers and ranchers to rehabilitate and strengthen environmental stewardship of their lands," Crawford said. "These new ECP drought funds will be used to provide cost-share assistance to eligible agricultural producers during periods of severe drought to supply emergency water for livestock or for existing irrigation systems serving orchards and vineyards."
USDA Farm Service Agency state and county committees administer the program. Eligible producers may receive cost-share assistance as determined by FSA county committees, not to exceed 75 percent of the cost of the approved practice for installing temporary measures. Cost sharing for permanent measure is based on 50 percent of the total eligible cost of the approved practice.
Producers should check with their local FSA officers to sign up for assistance. For a producer's land to 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 drought are not eligible for ECP assistance.