Hail pounds Nebraska farmers' corn into stubble
Posted: Saturday, June 21, 2008
KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) -- Larry Nichols' cornfield 10 miles northeast of Kearney has the stubbly look of an October field, as though it has been disked and is ready for winter.
Just days ago, the same field was flush with corn about 3 feet tall. A hailstorm destroyed 160 acres of Nichols' corn and soybeans.
"I had it planted in April. Now it looks like all hell broke loose," he said. "It's going to set us back a year or two."
Two miles to the north, Darrell Reiter surveyed the bare hills that had been flourishing with one of the best corn crops he'd seen in years, planted by his son Steve.
"Where is everything? Where did all the foliage go? It's just gone," Reiter said. "I've never seen anything quite that bad. You can't even tell what it was, what kind of crop was there."
The storm hit about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, carrying some hail as big as golf balls. The National Weather Service in Hastings reported 60 mph winds in the area but had no reports of hail.
Nichols said he went outside after the storm to inspect the damage. He saw a blanket of marble-size hailstones.
"It was drifted up against the house like snow," he said.
Nearby neighbors of both Nichols and Reiter escaped with only minor damage to their crops.
"You work all your dang life and then this," Reiter said. "It makes you wonder what you did wrong. Why wasn't this stupid thing one mile that way or one mile the other way?"
Both farmers said they are worried about what they'll do next.
"I don't know what to do: go to beans or cut the corn for silage," Nichols said. "If you don't plant something over it it'll go to weeds, so I've got to put a cover crop on it."
Nichols' soybean crop was contracted at $13 per bushel. Now he'll have to come up with that money another way.
"I've carried hail insurance 40 years and I've only had one small claim previously," he said. "I pay $4,000 per year for it, so that's $160,000 over the 40 years. Now I just wonder how much they're going to pay me back."
Reiter and Nichols also had hail damage on their homes. Hailstones broke all the windows on the east side of Reiter's house and shot holes through the siding on Nichols' house.
"It's just a terrible deal, especially when corn's $7 a bushel," Reiter said. "The insurance company will pay for some of it, but they won't pay $7 a bushel, I can tell you that."
Reiter was quiet as he looked out over his fields. "Did you ever see anything quite like that?" he asked. "There's nothing. Nothing."
Just days ago, the same field was flush with corn about 3 feet tall. A hailstorm destroyed 160 acres of Nichols' corn and soybeans.
"I had it planted in April. Now it looks like all hell broke loose," he said. "It's going to set us back a year or two."
Two miles to the north, Darrell Reiter surveyed the bare hills that had been flourishing with one of the best corn crops he'd seen in years, planted by his son Steve.
"Where is everything? Where did all the foliage go? It's just gone," Reiter said. "I've never seen anything quite that bad. You can't even tell what it was, what kind of crop was there."
The storm hit about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, carrying some hail as big as golf balls. The National Weather Service in Hastings reported 60 mph winds in the area but had no reports of hail.
Nichols said he went outside after the storm to inspect the damage. He saw a blanket of marble-size hailstones.
"It was drifted up against the house like snow," he said.
Nearby neighbors of both Nichols and Reiter escaped with only minor damage to their crops.
"You work all your dang life and then this," Reiter said. "It makes you wonder what you did wrong. Why wasn't this stupid thing one mile that way or one mile the other way?"
Both farmers said they are worried about what they'll do next.
"I don't know what to do: go to beans or cut the corn for silage," Nichols said. "If you don't plant something over it it'll go to weeds, so I've got to put a cover crop on it."
Nichols' soybean crop was contracted at $13 per bushel. Now he'll have to come up with that money another way.
"I've carried hail insurance 40 years and I've only had one small claim previously," he said. "I pay $4,000 per year for it, so that's $160,000 over the 40 years. Now I just wonder how much they're going to pay me back."
Reiter and Nichols also had hail damage on their homes. Hailstones broke all the windows on the east side of Reiter's house and shot holes through the siding on Nichols' house.
"It's just a terrible deal, especially when corn's $7 a bushel," Reiter said. "The insurance company will pay for some of it, but they won't pay $7 a bushel, I can tell you that."
Reiter was quiet as he looked out over his fields. "Did you ever see anything quite like that?" he asked. "There's nothing. Nothing."
Story Comments
Read More and Post Comments 0 comment(s)
Please note: The following are comments from readers. In no way do they represent the views of The Sioux City Journal or Lee Enterprises. We will not edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to not post or to remove comments that violate our code of conduct. No comment may contain potentially libelous statements; obscene, explicit or racist language; personal attacks, insults or threats. Terms of Service
