Thousands of acres of corn and soybean in Fairbank were destroyed Tuesday night after severe storms rolled through eastern Iowa. A clearer picture of the scale of destruction was made clear on Wednesday.
Adrienna Olson with the Buchanan County Farm Service Agency says only a few reports from Fairbank and Hazelton Township have been reported. They include corn and soybean damage.
Strong winds, rain, and penny-sized hail are to blame for the destruction.
An investigation into the complete scope of the damage is still underway but early projections are thousands of acres of crop damaged.
The cost of the damage is still being calculated. Corn right now is selling for $5.86 per bushel so Olson said the cost of lost crop will easily be in the millions.
Farmer Gene Wilson said this isn’t the first time experiencing Mother Nature’s wrath.
“Some of it will be just plain difficult to harvest, and maybe some will be impossible to harvest. We’ll try to harvest all of it but I don’t know if we’ll be able to,” Wilson said.
Farmers could feel the loss of this crop, financially, for two-to-five years.
Source – https://cbs2iowa.com