Derecho Storm Damages Iowa Corn Farms

On August 10, 2020 a derecho event caused wide spread damage to the Iowa corn crop. On September 3, 2020 I was returning home from a few days of business in Iowa so I decided to stop and catalog some of the damage. One farmer was kind enough to let me ride with and post footage of him working his corn crop into the ground. Another farm allowed me to show the damage to their grain storage facility. Pretty much every corn field from where I got off I-80 on highway 218/30 to a few miles East of Ames was severely impacted.

There are many variables at play here, and what each farm will do with individual fields is going to vary by the extent of the damage, type of insurance coverage, and potential financial outcomes of the various options.

The timing of the derecho is also important to consider. Had this happened a month later I can imagine a lot more of the corn would be harvested. But this event blew down corn that was weeks away from reaching physiological maturity. Kernels aren't going to go through the final stages of development correctly, and ears that touch dirt or have rain splash dirt on them will likely begin to mold. All this will cause quality issues with some of the grain that is harvested, and that will result in headaches for farmers and grain buyers over the course of the next year. Not to mention millions of bushels of grain bins were wiped out by this event.

I would highly encourage you to listen to the Farm4Profit podcast derecho episode as they provide a much more local view of the situation than I possibly can on a one day drive through Iowa. They are working on a second derecho episode which I will link to when it airs. Their show notes also provide helpful links for those affected. You can find the first episode at https://intro-to-farm4profit.simplecast.com/episodes/derecho-farm-impact-report-whats-next

Farm4Profit followup episode https://intro-to-farm4profit.simplecast.com/episodes/updates-derecho-farm-impact-report

Also check out @Cole The Cornstar as his farm sustained a lot of damage. He's got a good attitude about the whole thing which I respect. https://youtu.be/gPdUslndvVI

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Видео Derecho Storm Damages Iowa Corn Farms канала The Farmer's Life