WARREN – The United States Department of Agriculture will begin allocations for $99,000 in Emergency Conservation Program funding to three Maine counties to help farmers and ranchers rehabilitate land damaged by last year’s ice storms and other natural disasters. Aroostook County will receive $85,000, Lincoln County $5,000 and Waldo County $9,000.

ECP gives producers additional resources to remove debris from farmland, restore fences and conservation structures, provide water for livestock in drought situations, and grade and shape farmland damaged by a natural disaster. USDA Farm Service Agency state and county committees administer ECP.

Locally elected county committees are authorized to implement ECP for all disasters except drought, which is authorized at the national office of FSA. Eligible producers will receive cost-share assistance of up to 75 percent of the cost of the approved practice, as determined by FSA county committees.

Producers should check with their local FSA offices regarding ECP sign-up periods, which are set by FSA county committees. For a producer’s land to be 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 before the applicable disaster are ineligible for ECP assistance.

USDA offers additional programs to help farmers and ranchers recover from damages caused by natural disasters. These programs include the Emergency Loan Program, Federal Crop Insurance and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program.

More information on ECP and other disaster assistance programs is available at local FSA service centers and online at http://www.fsa.usda.gov.