Assistance for Agriculture & Rural Residents
The programs listed below offer a comprehensive look at the assistance specifically available to agriculture & rural residents affected by the 2008 storms, tornadoes and flooding in Iowa.
Jump to:
- Emergency Conservation Program (ECP)
- Farm Service Agency Emergency Loans for Disasters
- Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program
- Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program
- Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP)
- Small Business Disaster Recovery Grant Program - EXPIRED
Emergency Conservation Program (ECP)
USDA Farm Service Agency's (FSA) Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) provides emergency funding and technical assistance for farmers and ranchers to rehabilitate farmland damaged by natural disasters.
The ECP is administered by state and county FSA committees. County FSA committees determine land eligibility based on on-site inspections of damage, taking into account the type and extent of damage. For land to be eligible, the natural disaster must create new conservation problems that, if untreated, would:
- impair or endanger the land;
- materially affect the land's productive capacity
- represent unusual damage which, except for wind erosion, is not the type likely to recur frequently in the same area; and
- be so costly to repair that Federal assistance is or will be required to return the land to productive agricultural use.
Conservation problems existing prior to the applicable disaster are ineligible for ECP assistance.
For more information about the Emergency Conservation Program, visit the USDA's Farm Service Agency Web site.
Farm Service Agency Emergency Loans for Disasters
USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) provides emergency loans to help producers recover from production and physical losses due to drought, flooding, other natural disasters, or quarantine.
Emergency loan funds may be used to:
- Restore or replace essential property;
- Pay all or part of production costs associated with the disaster year;
- Pay essential family living expenses;
- Reorganize the farming operation; and
- Refinance certain debts.
For more information about the Farm Service Agency Emergency Loans for Disasters, visit the USDA's Farm Service Agency Web site.
Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program
USDA's Farm Service Agency's Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program provides financial assistance to producers of noninsurable crops when low yields, loss of inventory or prevented planting occurs due to natural disasters.
An eligible producer is a landowner, tenant or sharecropper who shares in the risk of producing an eligible crop. The annual gross revenue of the eligible producer, or the annual gross revenue of any individual or entity combined as one "person" with the eligible producer, cannot exceed $2 million.
For more information about the Farm Service Agency's Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program, visit the USDA's Farm Service Agency Web site.
Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program
The purpose of the Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) program is to undertake emergency measures, including the purchase of flood plain easements, for runoff retardation and soil erosion prevention to safeguard lives and property from floods, drought, and the products of erosion on any watershed whenever fire, flood or any other natural occurrence is causing or has caused a sudden impairment of the watershed.
For more information about the Natural Resource's Conservation Service's (NRCS) Emergency Watershed Program, visit the USDA's NRCS Web site.
Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP)
The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) is a program to develop and implement a conservation plan for restoration of wetlands previously altered for agricultural use. Eligible land is that which has been owned for one year and that could be restored to wetland conditions.
Landowners may restore wetlands with permanent easements, 30-year easements or 10-year contracts. Permanent easements pay 100% of the agricultural value of the land and 100% cost-share for restoration; 30-year easements pay 75% of the agricultural value and 75% cost-share for restoration; 10-year contracts pay 75% cost-share of restoration only. Permanent or 30-year easements are recorded with property deeds. Ten-year contracts are not recorded with deeds.
Small Business Disaster Recovery Grant Program
This program has expired and is no longer active.
Small businesses, family farms and non-profit organizations impacted by the 2008 summer disasters can now apply for additional financial assistance through the Small Business Disaster Recovery Grant Program. The program, administered by Iowa Workforce Development (IWD), provides up to a $5,000 grant for damages incurred from last year’s floods and tornadoes.
To be eligible, a business, non-profit agency or farm must have existed prior to the disaster; have 25 or fewer employees; be located in a county that was declared eligible for Public Assistance by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); and experienced a dislocation of at least one worker as a result of the disaster. Businesses do not need to have a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan or have received FEMA assistance in order to qualify for this program.
For more information, view the Small Business Disaster Recovery Grant Program fact sheet.
Access the Small Business Disaster Recovery Grant Program Application.
View the local contacts for the Small Business Disaster Recovery Grant Program.