Storm damage lingers at northeast Iowa farms

Nearly three weeks after wind-driven hail turned bumper crops into pulp, hundreds of northeast Iowa farmers still are weighing their recovery options.

“At this point, the only bright side is that I won't have to spend much for fuel to run the combine or propane to dry the corn,” said Gary Lehmann, who milks about 150 cows four miles south of Elgin.

The July 24 hailstorm that cut a wide swath of destruction through Winneshiek, Fayette, Clayton and Delaware counties severely damaged most of Lehmann's 600 acres of corn and 300 acres of soybeans. His 180-acre third cutting of hay, which stood knee high before the storm, “looked like somebody's lawn afterward,” he said.

Like most other milk producers, Lehmann said he has been losing money all year because of depressed prices for raw milk, and the loss of hay and grain makes him wonder what his cows will eat this winter. “I love farming but I'm not sure how long I can keep it up,” he said.

Gov. Chet Culver on Tuesday asked U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack for a Secretarial Disaster Designation for 23 Iowa counties taking storm damage to crops between May 15 and July 31. The request includes the four hardest hit counties as well as Allamakee, Benton, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler, Chickasaw, Clarke, Clay, Decatur, Howard, Iowa, Jackson, Jefferson, Keokuk, Lucas, Mahaska, Van Buren, Wapello and Wayne.

A designation would expand eligibility for additional USDA assistance, including SURE permanent disaster program resources created in the 2008 Farm Bill. Culver also has requested loss assessments for Hardin and other counties affected by Sunday's storms.

The July 24 storm, which caused an estimated $200 million in crop damage in the four-county area hit hard, “was the mother of all hailstorms,” said Dale Thoreson, an Iowa State University Extension beef and dairy field specialist who's helping farmers cope with their losses.

Hail the size of golf balls driven by winds exceeding 60 mph for as long as 20 minutes damaged or destroyed more than 400,000 acres of crops, leaving behind sun-bleached and dessicated residue that now lends an autumn cast to a landscape that should be vibrant green. The change in complexion is so dramatic is visible clearly on NEXRAD satellite images.

Chris Strong, who sells crop insurance and farms southeast of West Union, was in town that Friday afternoon, aware of the storm but not its destructive impact, when his cell phone rang.

It was his dad and farming partner, 73-year-old Kenneth Strong, who said simply, “It's gone.”

What's gone, Dad?” Strong asked.

“The corn,” the senior Strong replied.

Late last week, Strong neighbor Robert Shaffer disked a field of cornstalks in preparation of sowing alfalfa seed for crops next year. Another neighbor, Kim Dummermuth, drilled oats into what had been a thriving soybean field, in hopes of growing enough forage yet this year to help feed his beef cattle.

Many farmers anxiously await the drydown of their damaged crops so those crops can be chopped for silage.

In Delaware County, the brunt of the storm struck Pat O'Connell's dairy farm three miles east of Earlville, wrecking both hay and corn crops. The stress level - already high because of the record low milk prices - quadrupled after the hailstorm, O'Connell said. “We're all in the same boat. We just have to dig a little deeper,” he said.

Most affected farmers have some crop insurance but not enough to cover their losses.

Dummermuth said, “I didn't have all the insurance I should have, and that's my fault. I have to take some of the hit.”

Fayette County Supervisor Vicki Rowland said she worries about the well being and mental health of the affected farmers.

So does Julie Vulk, the federal Farm Service Agency director for Winneshiek and Fayette counties, who urges troubled farmers to call the Rural Concern Hotline, (800)-447-1985.

“You step out the door every day and look at that, and it's bound to get to you,” she said.

Apart from their financial losses, the affected farmers also lost - at least temporarily - one of their main purposes in life. “A corn farmer likes to grow corn, and we stopped doing that a couple of weeks ago,” Strong said.