DES MOINES, Iowa – Farmers across a wide swath of Iowa are facing the heartbreaking aftermath of a rare windstorm that turned many of a record corn crop into deep losses for many.
The storm, known as a derecho, hit the Midwest with straight winds of up to 100 miles per hour on Monday, gaining strength as it plowed through Iowa farms, flat corn and bursting grain bins still ripe with tens of millions of bushels harvested last year. .
“It simply came to our notice then. “You still have to deal with what you grew last fall and you’re trying to figure out how to prepare for what you’ll grow this fall,” said Iowa State University agricultural economist Chad Hart.
Farms in Illinois and Indiana also reported damage to crops and property, but not to the extent seen in Iowa.
Before the storm hit, the U.S. Department of Agriculture had expected a record national corn crop this year of 15.3 billion bushels harvested from about 84 million acres. Iowa had to supply about 18% of that production. The Iowa crop was valued at about $ 9.81 billion in 2019.
The Iowa Corn Growers Association said it was too early to describe exactly how much of this year’s crop was lost. Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said Tuesday that tens of millions of bushels of grain stored at farm cooperatives and privately owned on farms were damaged or destroyed.
Western Iowa has been declared an extremely dry zone and corn plants there have already weakened due to a lack of moisture. Those fields are likely to be a loss, Hart said.
According to a USDA report dated August 1, farmers in much of central and eastern Iowa had expected near-record yields with healthy plants recovering. For now, a lot depends on whether the plants were cut down or simply bound by wind.
“There’s a lot more breaking or pinching of stems than I thought there was now that I’ve been out and seen more of it. That, of course, has essentially killed the plant, “said Meaghan Anderson, an agronomist at the Iowa State University extension who works with farmers in nine central Iowa counties.
Grain lies flat on the ground in several fields in the region, Anderson said. The corn stalks had grown to full height and were in the final stages of producing ears and filling with seeds. Modern corn varieties can grow up to 8 feet long, making them vulnerable to strong straight winds.
For plants that were bent, and stones not broken, there is some hope, with a significantly reduced yield. But it will be difficult to harvest. If the stems snapped, the plant would die. Those fields will be cut and used as livestock.
Iowa Corn Growers Association CEO Craig Floss on Wednesday investigated the storm damage on his father’s farm east of Des Moines. He found two engine houses destroyed and grain bins significantly damaged. The corn was flattened and the household needed it for repair.
“The most important message above to people is that this is really coming at a time when farmers are already significantly hurting because of the pandemic and trade disputes,” he said.
“There is a lot of stress in the countryside. “It was already very stressful,” Floss said. This simply adds insult to injury that was already there. “
Call insurance programs will help with corn in the field, as will a USDA compensation program. Federal disaster relief could come if a presidential disaster is declared.
Bins were full when farmers hung on to last fall’s crops in hopes of improved prices. The USDA estimates that about 2.8 billion bushels remain in storage.
“We carried more grain than normal through the spring and here in the summer, and now the derecho got some of that grain and we will end up with a significant piece of value because it became vulnerable to the weather,” he said. Said Hart.
There is no federal program to help farmers who have lost preserved grain, he said. Some may have private insurance to help, but most will likely wait to see if federal or state programs are initiated.
