Northey tours damaged Fayette County farms, but offers no quick aid

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey offered hail-stricken Fayette County farmers little in the way of immediate relief during a tour of several farms Friday.

Their best hope, he said, is a federal disaster declaration, which would make available long-term, low-interest loans through the federal Farm Service Agency. Information is being gathered for an application which would be filed through the office of Gov. Chet Culver, he said.

Northey said he had never seen corn and soybean fields as thoroughly destroyed as those between West Union and Elgin. “Photos don't do it justice,” he said.

A hailstorm July 24 caused an estimated $169 million in damage to crops in Fayette and

Winneshiek counties, according to Julie Vulk, Farm Service Agency administrator for those counties.

Though no dollar estimate was available for losses in Delaware County, FSA farm loan manager Ryan Marcus estimated that 25 percent of the county's cropland sustained significant hail damage.

Northey stopped at three farms en route to a press briefing at the Tyson hog-buying station on Highway 56 east of West Union.

Dairy farmer Mark Vagt, who like most dairy farmers had relied on his hay and corn crops to feed his cattle, told Northey he is “in survival mode, trying to hang on.”

West Union dairy farmer Scott Cannon said, “The clock here is ticking for us to get feed for our cows.”

Grain farmer John Streif said crop insurance will defray some of his losses but said he would much prefer picking corn this fall to looking at his ruined fields.