Iowa Farmers Continue Cleanup After Derecho

Two weeks have passed since a powerful storm swept across Iowa and much of the upper midwest, leveling crops and buildings through a sizable portion of the Corn Belt. Kevin Ross, president of the National Corn Growers Association, said he didn’t have much damage on his farm in Southwest Iowa, but many of his peers weren’t as lucky.

Up to 14 million acres of crops may have been damaged by the storm. Ross says because of the widespread damage, farmers who normally would help their neighbors out are also having to pick up their own pieces.

Storm damage was also surveyed last week by the annual Pro Farmer crop tour. Their projected yield for this year announced Friday is 177-and-a-half bushels per acre for corn and 52-and-a-half bushels per acre for soybeans, below USDA’s pre-storm estimates. Pro Farmer projects a loss of 525-thousand harvested corn acres this season, including 300-thousand from Iowa.