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USDA Ready To Help Farmers Affected By Flooding A new TV feature is available on the USDA FTP site.
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FEATURE - HELP FOR FLOOD AFFECTED FARMERS
INTRO: The U-S Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency is assessing what it can do to help farmers whose land and property was damaged by recent floods in the Midwest. The USDA's Bob Ellison has more. (1:34)
RECENT MIDWEST FLOODING COVERED A LOT OF FARM LAND AND DID SOME DAMAGE, BUT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN WORSE HAD IT OCCURRED LATER IN THE SPRING. U-S DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FARM SERVICE AGENCY ADMINISTRATOR JUAN GARCIA SAYS DELAYED PLANTING LOOKS TO BE THE BIGGEST PROBLEM.
Juan Garcia, USDA Farm Service Agency Administrator: We have had some reports on the damages. Fortunately, a lot of the crops had not been planted yet prior to the flooding occurring. So we're in good shape there. The problem is now that they have to wait until it dries up in order to be able to plant their corn and their soybeans.
STILL, GARCIA SAYS F-S-A IS ASSESSING DAMAGE IN FLOOD-STRICKEN AREAS TO DETERMINE WHAT CAN BE DONE FOR PRODUCERS.
Garcia: We have had at least one county in Missouri that has requested authorization for the Emergency Conservation Program, which is a program in which we offer cost sharing assistance to assist farmers to remove debris from their farmland, repair fences, also to repair conservation structures in the areas. One of our main missions is to provide a safety net for these producers. You never know what Mother Nature is going to do. If you take last year we had a tremendous drought in that area. A big difference from last year as to this year where we've had significant rainfall that has caused flooding.
GARCIA SAYS FLOOD-AFFECTED FARMERS SHOULD CONTACT THEIR LOCAL FARM SERVICE AGENCY OFFICE AND PROVIDE A REPORT.
Garcia: It is very important for us to get as many reports from producers as possible so that the office can do a good assessment as to what damage occurred in the area.
IN WASHINGTON D-C FOR THE U-S DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, I'M BOB ELLISON.
This new TV feature is available on the USDA FTP site.
FTP DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS:
The host: ftp://ocbmtcmedia.
User name: usdaftp
Password: 1qaz2wsx
Filename for TV Feature: FSA flooding feature
The new file is in QuickTime Movie (H.264 )
Please use this free ftp client if you have problems.
http://filezilla-project.org/
Please email bob.ellison@usda.gov if you have problems or suggestions.
Also, the new TV feature can be seen on USDA's YouTube channel and as a video podcast.
