The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Service Center in Scottsbluff is hosting a disaster assistance workshop on Thursday, Aug. 18, at 1 p.m. at the North Platte Natural Resources District office in Scottsbluff.
The meeting is intended for farmers, ranchers, and rural landowners impacted by the recent wildfire in the Carter Canyon area.
Representatives from USDA’s Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service will present information on the various disaster assistance programs and resources available for farmers, ranchers, and rural landowners. Representatives from the University of Nebraska Panhandle Research & Extension Center and Nebraska Forest Service also will be present to provide resource information.
“You know there’s a lot of different programs and things that each of us the individual agencies can do for each producer, and we wanted to get everybody together so everyone could hear the same questions and answers,” said FSA County Executive Director Ainsley Lockwood. “The other thing is knowing all programs out there that could help each one of them individually.”
Workshop topics include reviewing programs available to assist producers with livestock and crop-related expenses and losses, assistance programs to help with restoration and rehabilitation of farm and ranch land, and a discussion of technical assistance to help with recovery efforts.
“I know NRCS is gonna have sign-up paperwork as they have a deadline quickly approaching to help these producers. I’m just gonna go over the options they have through FSA, and then we’ll sit down individually and go over each circumstance that that producer has at a later date,” Lockwood said.
Lockwood says they have already been reaching out to producers affected by the fires, but everyone is welcome.
For more information, contact the Scottsbluff USDA Service Center at 308-632-2195.
