By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Editor
More help is on the way for those affected by the wildfires that charred parts of the Texas Panhandle earlier this month.
Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced $6 million in aid available to farmers, ranchers and forest landowners affected by wildfires in Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma.
“We have seen the devastating effects of these wildfires on agricultural operations,” Michael Young, USDA’s acting deputy secretary of agriculture, said. “The funding can help communities of farmers and ranchers start the process of recovery.”
The funding will help farmers and ranchers as they begin to restore scorched grazing land, rebuild fencing, protect damaged watersheds and implement various conservation measures to mitigate losses.
“USDA is here to offer assistance, and I encourage producers who experienced losses to take full advantage of our financial and technical assistance to aid in their recovery efforts and alleviate part of the financial burden caused by these tragic events,” Young said.
The aid is available through the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).
EQIP is a voluntary program that provides financial and technical assistance to farmers and ranchers to help them plan and implement conservation practices that address priority resource concerns.
Interested farmers and ranchers must submit a complete program application, establish “farm records” and other documentation to be considered.
Application assistance can be found here.
To further help affected farmers and ranchers, USDA’s Farm Service Agency is also making several programs available to those in the six Texas counties declared a disaster by Gov. Greg Abbott.
Abbott requested the assistance in a disaster declaration March 11.
FSA programs available to those affected include: Livestock Indemnity Program, Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program, Tree Assistance Program and emergency use of the Conservation Reserve Program for grazing.
Landowners in Gray, Hemphill, Lipscomb, Ochiltree, Roberts and Wheeler counties who suffered a loss due to the wildfires are eligible to apply for the programs.
Detailed information on those programs, as well as information on how to apply, is available here.
FSA is also offering assistance through the Emergency Conservation Program. Details can be found here.
For rebuilding needs not met by those programs, Texas Farm Bureau has created the Panhandle Wildfire Relief Fund. Those interested can make a tax-deductible donation.
Checks may be made out to the Texas Farm Bureau Agriculture Research and Education Foundation and mailed to: Panhandle Wildfire Committee, P.O. Box 2689, Waco, Texas 76702-2689. Please include “Attention: Cyndi Gerik” on donation envelopes.
Nearly half a million acres in the Panhandle burned the week of March 6.
Preliminary estimates report farmers’ and ranchers’ losses of at least $21 million, not taking into account the loss of equipment.
Following the fires, people across the nation began to send hay, feed and other donations to the affected areas.
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension will soon begin closing those