Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D.-N.Y., have requested emergency funding from Senate leaders to help aid New York's farmland damaged by Tropical Storm Irene.
The request letter, released today, seeks funding from the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) and the Emergency Watershed Program (EWP) to aid agricultural communities in New York. Damage ranged from flooded fields, swept-away livestock, leveled crops and business-impeding power outages.
“New York’s farmland endured some of the worst of Hurricane Irene, and much of our farmland is badly damaged,” Senator Gillibrand said in a statement. “When our farm families suffer, our whole state and whole economy suffers. We need to provide our farm communities with all the resources we need to dig out from these devastating storms. I will fight to secure every necessary federal resource to aid in our recovery.”
The letter was addressed to Agriculture Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., and Ranking Member Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., with the hope of expediting the federal funding process.
Both the ECP and EWP have a backlog of funding requests, with estimates at $77 million for the ECP and $139 million for the EWP, according to the letter. Current USDA estimates put the need for ECP at $106 million for this fiscal year, including $2.5 million for New York state, but that number coudl rise as damage is further totaled.
From Hudson Valley, through the Capital region and up to the North Country, many areas of farmland are unable to be worked as it usually would because of Tropical Storm Irene damage.
One noted example is from Schoharie County, where four dairies were completely or significantly destroyed, and all field crops and vegetable crops in Schoharie River valley were totally lost.
"Agriculture is a key part of our economy and our way of life in Upstate New York, and we have to do everything possible to bring farms back from this devastation and help them succeed again," Schumer said in a statement.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D.-N.Y., have requested emergency funding from Senate leaders to help aid New York's farmland damaged by Tropical Storm Irene.
The request letter, released today, seeks funding from the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) and the Emergency Watershed Program (EWP) to aid agricultural communities in New York. Damage ranged from flooded fields, swept-away livestock, leveled crops and business-impeding power outages.
“New York’s farmland endured some of the worst of Hurricane Irene, and much of our farmland is badly damaged,” Senator Gillibrand said in a statement. “When our farm families suffer, our whole state and whole economy suffers. We need to provide our farm communities with all the resources we need to dig out from these devastating storms. I will fight to secure every necessary federal resource to aid in our recovery.”
The letter was addressed to Agriculture Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., and Ranking Member Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., with the hope of expediting the federal funding process.
Both the ECP and EWP have a backlog of funding requests, with estimates at $77 million for the ECP and $139 million for the EWP, according to the letter. Current USDA estimates put the need for ECP at $106 million for this fiscal year, including $2.5 million for New York state, but that number coudl rise as damage is further totaled.
From Hudson Valley, through the Capital region and up to the North Country, many areas of farmland are unable to be worked as it usually would because of Tropical Storm Irene damage.
One noted example is from Schoharie County, where four dairies were completely or significantly destroyed, and all field crops and vegetable crops in Schoharie River valley were totally lost.
"Agriculture is a key part of our economy and our way of life in Upstate New York, and we have to do everything possible to bring farms back from this devastation and help them succeed again," Schumer said in a statement.
