Hurricane Emergency Assistance Updates

From floods to drought, fire or hurricanes, Florida NRCS provides disaster recovery assistance to farmers, ranchers, landowners and communities through the following programs:

EQIP - Environmental Quality Incentives Program Emergency Assistance

NRCS provides financial and technical assistance to agricultural and forest producers to improve or protect natural resource conditions while also improving agricultural operations. NRCS can provide payments, through conservation program contracts, for EQIP conservation practices to help agricultural landowners and producers address disaster related resource concerns on their land.

To expedite Hurricane Ian disaster recovery, NRCS offered early start waivers in EQIP emergency declaration counties, to allow commencement of key conservation practices prior to conservation program contract approval. The deadline for interested landowners and producers to sign up was November 15, 2022.

An NRCS Disaster Assistance Hotline phone number (352-338-9500) and email (SM.NRCS.FL.DISASTERINFO@USDA.GOV) were set up to assist interested farmers, producers and landowners in requesting an application if they were unable to reach their local NRCS office.  

Producers were asked to file an EQIP application and a waiver before beginning an EQIP conservation practice. EQIP conservation practices offered for financial assistance for the early-start waiver are listed below:

Practice Code         Practice Name and Units
325                            High Tunnel System (sf)
326                            Clearing and Snagging (ac)
327                            Conservation Cover (ac)
340                            Cover Crop (ac)
342                            Critical Area Planting (ac)
368                            Emergency Animal Mortality Management (amu)
382                            Fence (ft)
384                            Woody Residue Treatment (ac)
484                            Mulching (ac)
500                            Obstruction Removal (no)
595                            Pest Management Conservation System (ac)

EWP - Emergency Watershed Protection Program

EWP recovery projects begin with a local sponsor or legal subdivision of state or tribal government. Eligible sponsors include cities, counties, towns, conservation districts, or any federally-recognized Native American tribe or tribal organization. Interested public and private landowners must work through a sponsor.

Hurricane Ian made landfall early Wednesday afternoon on September 28, 2022, near Charlotte Harbor area in southwest Florida as a Category 4 storm – nearly a Category 5, with winds of 155 mph. Most of the southwest coast of Florida, experienced and life-threatening risk from catastrophic storm surges, wind, and flooding. The storm moved slowly over the peninsula and lingered over central Florida into the early morning hours of Thursday, September 29, 2022, dumping heavy rains with wind gusts up to 50mph. Hurricane winds extended out 45 miles from the center as it made landfall. The northeast area of the state, near St. John’s River, was also impacted heavily as the storm continued its northeast trajectory across the state.as a Category 4 storm with winds of 155 mph.

Hurricane Nicole made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane just south of Vero Beach, Florida, at 3:00 a.m. Thursday, November 10, packing maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Later becoming a tropical storm, the system brought heavy rains and strong winds across central Florida. Landing on Florida’s eastern shores, Nicole is the first hurricane to hit the US in November in nearly 40 years.