USDA Announces $308M for Disaster-Stricken States

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture is adding more than $300 million to the massive amount of financial assistance federal agencies have doled out in response to an unusually intense year of natural disasters, officials announced Wednesday.

The money, from three emergency funds administered by the USDA?s Natural Resource Conservation Service and Farm Service Agency, is more than double the $136.6 million paid from the funds a year ago. It will go toward repairing farmland and associated property damaged by flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes and wildfires.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said natural disasters impacted 55 million acres of farmland nationwide in 2011.

?There have been years that have had more intensive damage in a particular geographic area, but what?s unique about last year is that virtually every part of the country was affected,? Vilsack said.

The most aid is headed to Utah and Missouri, which combined will take in more than $110 million, or more than one-third of the total announced Wednesday.

States rely on local conservation and farm service offices to approve fund applications, which are then forwarded on to the national USDA offices. Vilsack spokesman Matt Herrick said each state largely received the money it requested.

Utah asked for $60 million to deal with two rounds of flooding, including in the southern part of the state in December 2010 and spring flooding that inundated farmers in northern and central Utah following a record snowpack, said Bronson Smart, state conservation engineer for the conservation service.

Smart said state and county officials had received tens of millions of dollars from the conservation service to fund dozens of projects following similar flooding disasters in 2005, and have since learned the value of seeking help from the emergency funds.

More at http://www.claimsjournal.com/news/national/2012/01/20/199237.htm
 
 
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