Ogle farmers expect crop loss from derecho; extent of damage won't be known until harvest

The summer yielded good weather for Ogle County farmers. There were timely rains. Not too much heat.

Then came the Aug. 10 derecho.

Straight line winds of more than 100 mph hit the county, damaging trees, power lines and structures.

And that's not all: Farmers saw corn get knocked down or flattened by the winds. The extent of the damage won’t be known until harvest.

“If it went down and snapped, it’s done,” Ogle County Farm Bureau Manager Ron Kern said. “If it just got laid over, it will start to straighten itself out. The guys who have any downed corn will have a trying harvest.”

Harvesting wind-blown corn can be a slow and tedious process, Kern said. Farmers who have a pickup reel on their corn head go “extremely” slow can save some of the crop. Sometimes it can be picked only in one direction.

Being laid over can also cause the corn to not mature correctly, and it increases the likelihood of mold.

Kern's not sure how many cornfields in the county were damaged. He hasn’t seen any entire fields blown over, but there are “pockets and holes.” Some are in the middle of fields, where they can’t be seen.

The storm brought frustration, especially for farmers hoping for a smooth year after last year’s bad weather, which dragged out harvest, and COVID-19’s adverse impacts on markets earlier this year.

“These late storms in the growing season ... we had a great crop out there,” Kern said. “You’re looking forward to it, and then you lose 25 to 30 or 50 percent of it. It’s tough. Hopefully they have crop insurance. Most usually do.”

Polo Farmer Brian Duncan lives about 8 miles south of Forreston, which bore the worst of the damage.

Before the storm, farmers were getting by and feeling confident. Now, it’s “wait-and-see mode,” Duncan said.

There are a lot of unknowns in the middle of fields, and damage will depend on hillsides and geography, he said.

“It’s all over the board. Some took it worse than others. We feel fortunate that as hard as it blew, what we have is still standing as well as it is.”

Things could be far worse – some fields in Iowa were entirely blown over. Duncan said.

The prices farmers eventually will see is another issue, Kern said.

“Commodity prices have been depressed for several years. They’re not moving much. We still had a backlog in packing plants for hogs and cattle. That’s starting to correct itself.

"Unless we can increase demand for corn and soybeans, I don’t see these prices being much. It’s going to be another tough year on the farm.”