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Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) for Agricultural Producers Benefits

Program Description

The Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) helps farmers and ranchers to repair damage to farmlands caused by natural disasters and to help put in place methods for water conservation during severe drought. The ECP does this by giving ranchers and farmers funding and assistance to repair the damaged farmland or to install methods for water conservation.

General Program Requirements

For land to qualify for ECP funds, the damage from the natural disaster or severe drought must create new conservation problems that if not dealt with would:

Further damage the land
Significantly affect the land's productive capacity
Represent damage from a natural disaster unusual for the area (an exception to this is damage from wind erosion)
Be too costly to repair without Federal assistance in order to return the land to agricultural production

The FSA County Committee inspects the damage to determine if land is eligible for ECP. Conservation problems that existed before the disaster or severe drought are ineligible for ECP assistance.

Your Next Steps

The following information will lead you to the next steps to apply for this program.

Application Process

Farmers and ranchers should check with their local FSA office to find out about ECP sign-up periods, which are set by the FSA County Committee.

To apply for assistance, contact the Farm Service Agency (FSA) office nearest you.

Program Contact Information

For more information, please visit FSA's ECP homepage.