Vilsack Announces Hurricane Sandy Relief Package Valued at $209M
By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com
United States Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced on Monday, a disaster relief package totalling $209 million to help farmers and communities affected by Hurricane Sandy. The funding is provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which will go towards assisting the 12 states which were affected by Sandy.
"President Obama and USDA are committed to helping America's producers, private forest owners and other communities recover, repair and rebuild. This funding will help to rebuild communities, while states can use the funds to carry out emergency recovery measures. At the same time, this assistance keeps farmers on the farm, ranchers on the ranch, and landowners on their land, helping to keep American agriculture profitable,” said Vilsack.
The segment of the assistance package for farmers will come from the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP), with an allocated contribution of $15 million. The assistance will help farmers and ranchers remove debris from farmland, restore fences and grade farmland damaged by the disaster.
The other two programs which are part of the package include – the Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP) and Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP). The following states are eligible for assistance: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and West Virginia.