Ag Deadlines Approaching For Flood Assistance

As the March flood waters receded, devastated fields and livestock losses were left in the wake.

About 15 farmers and livestock producers attended a meeting in Neligh on Friday to learn what flood recovery resources are available to them. The meeting was hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and UNL Extension in the courthouse basement meeting room.

Several USDA programs are out there, but the deadlines are quickly approaching, according to Jamie Keep, county executive director of the Farm Service Agency.

“If you remember nothing else, remember you need to come in by April 29 if you have livestock claims to make, and if you want to apply for ECP, it’s May 25,” Keep said.

She encouraged the producers to call the FSA office.

“Even a phone call is better than starting nothing by that date,” Keep said.

She said most people have been coming into the FSA office for the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP), which provides cost-sharing to producers who have “severe damage to farmland and pastures due to a natural disaster.”

“So, we have people coming in all of the time—a lot of it, right now, has been for fixing their fences or debris removal, which they are already getting started on,” Keep said.

She said sand and other flood deposits are considered debris removal.

“With your debris removal, as long as you are not making any changes below the plow line, so if you need to move sand off of your fields and pastures, that is all considered debris removal,” Keep said. “All of that work ​you can get started on right away after you make your application.”

She said “the kicker” is that nothing is technically approved until the FSA receives funding.

“So when you come in to do your application, you will sign on a waiver that you agree to start all of this without funding,” Keep said.

Landowners who need to do grading and shaping, such as filling holes, so it can be farmed again, can apply, but can’t begin the work until they receive written approval from FSA, she said.

“That’s the hardest part for everybody right now because it’s the time of the year that you need to be in the field, and we don’t know how long it will be that you’ll need to wait before you get approval,” Keep said.

Joe Meis of Elgin asked when he could start “filling ditches” in his farmland.

“The biggest one is probably 2 feet wide and 4 feet deep,” Meis said.

If it’s below the plow line, the NRCS will need to make a field visit, said Chris Hoffman of the Platte County FSA.

“Some of these should be planted in the next 10 days,” Keith Heithoff of Elgin said.

Hoffman said they understand their concerns.

“Some of these you may want to take care of without cost-share,” he said.

Cory Furstenau asked about pushing sand deposits back into the hole on his land.

Again, Hoffman said it must first be approved by the FSA.

“Don’t put it in if you want cost-share,” he said.

Keep also recommended that farmers talk to their agents if they have crop insurance.

“Talk to them first because we don’t have the same rules in how we handle things,” she said.

Donna Farrell Taylor asked about assistance for lost land near the riverbank.

“I was just wondering if there was going to be any help for ground that is just gone, where cropland fell into the river and was swept away?” she asked. “There’s no way you can restack 10 foot banks.”

Hoffman suggested that she check into options with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

When she asked about the sand left behind, Adam Nolan of the Natural Resource Conservation Service told her landowners are required “to move those sand deposits out of the flood plain and on the uplands.”

Heithoff asked a follow up question about flood ravaged land.

“A lot of that ground is lowered in value because some of the top soil washed off your good ground, do you go to the supervisors and ask for an adjustment on your taxes because your ground is going to produce less?” he asked.

Hoffman and Keep said that didn’t involve the FSA office.

“This is about as bad of a flood as we ever hope to see and it’s going to take time to get everything back to where it was,” Hoffman said. “We’ve got these programs and we’re trying to get them to you as quick as we can.”

He said the State of Nebraska did something “that was really quite impressive” when they went directly through Washington for help.

“We got an environmental thing completed so that NRCS and FSA didn’t have to go out and visit every one of these sites,” Hoffman said. “We jumped all that.”

This has allowed the landowners to do the debris removal and fencing without delay, he said.

“That got everybody out in the field and going,” Hoffman said. “Otherwise we wouldn’t be doing this, probably, until fall at the earliest.”

Adam Nolan of the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) said funds are available to plant cover crops and May 17 is the deadline to apply for funding.

“It’s a straight payment of around $37 an acre to plant that cover crop, but it’s got to be at least three species,” he said.

Nolan also mentioned an Emergency Animal Mortality Initiative, which ends May 1. He said cost sharing is available for burial, composting or rendering of the lost livestock.

Another livestock loss program is available through the FSA, Keep explained. She said the Livestock Indemnity Program compensates eligible livestock owners for eligible livestock death losses that occur in excess of normal mortality as a result of an eligible adverse weather event during the calendar year.

“In short, with this extended cold and wet period we’ve been having this year, and if you have losses from the flood, you have the option to come in and apply for assistance in our office,” Keep said.

Although initial losses may not be enough to trigger a payment right away, she encouraged producers to report them.

“It’s an application for the whole year, you want to keep telling us,” Keep said. “In order to get a true account of what you really lost, you have to keep reporting it to us.”

She said if the livestock owner has animal losses at a feedlot, the animal owner is required to make the application.

Keep said the compensation values on the animals varies, depending on the type.

“There are three different thresholds for calves, based on their weight,” she said. “Calves weighing 0 to 400 pounds are $471; 400 to 799 pounds are $661; 800 plus pounds are $969; bulls are $1,191 and cows are $916.”

Wayne Ohnesorg, UNL Extension Educator, said the extension office doesn’t offer any programs to apply for; however, they have informational resources. He recommended that producers visit www.flood.unl.edu.

“This is where the university is concentrating all of our resources for flood information, and it can be anything from homeowner to agricultural,” Ohnesorg said.

UNL Extension Educator Ben Beckman said livestock producers may contact him if they have questions about feeding or grazing plans.

Although “it’s been a really generous thing” that numerous hay donations are pouring into the state, Beckman said producers should be cautious where they are feeding it.

“You don’t know where it’s coming from,” he said. “We’ve got some noxious weed species that might get brought in with it.”

Ohnesorg agreed.
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“We can end up with something that’s not a noxious weed where it is, but if it gets here, the conditions are better for it to become a noxious weed,” he said.