Iowa farmlands were damaged during the derecho. | Unsplash
Iowa farmlands were damaged during the derecho. | Unsplash
Crop damage across the state is becoming common among Iowa farmers as they try to recoup what they've lost.
"It's significant. It is widespread. I've been in this industry for over 30 years and I don't know if I've seen as widespread destruction from north to south and as east and west as I've seen from this," Doug Burns, who works in crop insurance sales at Farm Credit Services of America, told We Are Iowa.
Many of Iowa's farmers have insurance for their crops, but it won't be enough for all of the problems brought by the storms.
"If there is a catastrophic event like we just had, then at least we can hold things together and not lose money, but it's definitely not a revenue maker," Morey Hill, a Boone County farmer, told We Are Iowa.
But farmers are being encouraged to leave the damaged crops where they are for now.
"I would encourage producers to not tear anything up, don't chop it and don't do anything until you get released from your crop insurance adjuster," Burns told We Are Iowa.
But crops are only the beginning of the damage farmer's are seeing.
"Producers have lost storage on their own farms and they've lost co-ops and plants have lost storage so producers are sorting out what they will do with their crop this year. Where do they put it?" Burns told We Are Iowa. "We're nine days after the damage and we are just not sure what all is going to happen. Will they be able to recover some of it or harvest some of it? That's what's not known and that will become more clear as time progresses."
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