Gov. Eliot Spitzer last month announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has provided $589,600 in funding to assist farmers in seven New York counties that were adversely impacted by severe flooding earlier this year.

Columbia, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Schoharie, Ulster and Westchester counties all received record amounts of rain in mid- April, causing damage to many stream banks and agriculturally sensitive fields.

The $589,600 is being made available through the Emergency Conservation Program that is administered through USDA’s New York Farm Service Agency. The program provides farmers with costsharing resources to help remove debris from farmland, restore fences and conservation structures, and grade and shape farmland damaged by natural disasters. Eligible producers will receive cost-sharing assistance of up to 75 percent of the total cost.