The Derecho: Rebuilding a year later

Generations of farmers will remember the derecho that tore across the Midwest on August 10, 2020. The storm compounded troubles for a U.S. farm economy already battered by extreme weather, the U.S-China trade war, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, farmers and cooperatives are continuing rebuilding efforts while also dealing with volatile markets and supply issues.

What happened August 10, 2020?

"The derecho was not in the forecast," says Justin Glisan, Iowa state climatologist. The storm system began early the morning of August 10 in southern South Dakota, he says. By 9 a.m., it had crossed the Iowa/Nebraska border and severe thunderstorm warnings were issued.

Glisan hoped the storm system would stick together and bring relief to the west-central part of Iowa, which was suffering from extreme drought. However, near Carroll, Iowa, it "hit a very unstable atmosphere, and that's where it exploded."

Glisan says he knew it was coming about an hour and a half before it happened. "The National Weather Service issued a rare alert labeling the storm system a particularly dangerous situation," he says.

Who was most affected?

The Iowa Department of Agriculture estimates that 3.5 million acres of corn and 2.5 million acres of soybeans grown within a 36-county area across the central part of the state were hit the hardest.

According to the National Weather Service (NWS), eastern Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and southern Wisconsin were the most affected. The greatest damage was found in central and eastern Iowa where wind speeds measured 126 mph during the storm; post-damage surveys estimated some areas likely experienced 140 mph winds.

Destruction was so severe, insurers are still processing claims.

"We strive to adjust and resolve claims accurately and as quickly as possible," says Chad Zierke, vice president, commercial claims of Nationwide Insurance. "The derecho was devastating to so many farmers, and we've been working around the clock to help our members rebuild." As of June, Nationwide reported nearly 85% of derecho-related claims had been resolved or were in the process.

Ben Olson, Vinton, Iowa

Ben Olson was able to quickly build back his cattle and row crop farm south of Vinton in eastern Iowa, despite loss to 35 structures in four feedlot locations.

"All the buildings and sheds were either completely destroyed or had minor issues. Our home had minor issues, but all of our bins were also damaged."

Olson's 2013 machine shed collapsed and crushed a combine, tractor, and grain cart, all waiting to be used the next month for the 2020 harvest.

"On top of not only fixing buildings, sheds, and bins, we had to get a combine and corn head purchased to start harvesting in a few weeks," says Olson. "It was one of those days you never forget and hope you never have to live through again."

Cattle barns were rebuilt after harvest and throughout the winter. In June, they finalized their grain bin facilities.

"Our goal was to be completely rebuilt by Labor Day, so we're getting pretty close with just a few minor repairs left to do," Olson says. "We were very proactive and got rebuilds, equipment, and parts ordered right away."

Brad Hertle, Newhall, Iowa

Nearly 20 miles south of Olson, cattle and row crop farmer Brad Hertle lost his home plus all his bins, two machine sheds, and other buildings.

"We're in the process of rebuilding our home. However, one machine shed is up as well as a hoop building and cattle shed," Hertle says. "There's still quite a bit left to do and clean up, but we're almost done."

On the positive side, Hertle was able to harvest all of his 2020 crops.

"It was a slow, painful process, but with the way the grain markets have gone this year, I feel lucky we did harvest," he says. "But we also didn't have any bins to store the harvest, so we bagged all of it."

Ryan Vavroch, Elberon, Iowa

Thirty minutes east of Hertle's operation is row crop farmer Ryan Vavroch, who suffered similar damage. Vavroch farms 1,400 acres of a corn-soybean rotation alongside his dad near Elberon, Iowa.

"The day the derecho came through, we were in the process of putting up another bin on our farm," says Vavroch. "There was a company representative at our farm that day finalizing plans for the dryer, so we were able to order new bins that same day."

Although Vavroch lost a total of nine bins on various properties, he spent the majority of his time after the storm helping neighbors who lost more.

"I knew neighbors who had lost their homes and machine sheds, so they were in more need of help than we were as we really had major damage only to our grain bins," he says.

Vavroch's corn crop was zeroed out for the 2020 harvest, but he was able to combine beans. He says volunteer corn has really become an issue this year.

"We raise seed beans and non-GMO soybeans, so we have to be really careful when it comes to volunteer corn," he says. "We're having to make quite a few passes in the fields to spray for it because there's just so much out there."

Cooperatives Hit Hard in Iowa

A crop production survey from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service showed 13.6 million acres of corn were planted across the state of Iowa in 2020. Of those acres, 12.9 million were harvested, 200,000 were chopped for silage, and more than 440,000 were abandoned — the largest number of abandoned acres since the floods of 1993.

One of the biggest concerns for these farmers and many others was the damage to large crop storage facilities just before the 2020 harvest. On-farm and commercial grain storage for about 100 million bushels was lost in the estimated $11 billion in damage to bins, buildings, crops, and more.

Two cooperatives that suffered serious damages were Heartland Cooperative and Mid-Iowa Cooperative.

Heartland Cooperative

Heartland Cooperative is a farmer-owned co-op with more than 70 locations across central Iowa, stretching 200 miles from the Missouri River to east-central Iowa. The co-op sustained damages at 45 of its locations, with 10 of those classified as severely damaged.

"There are close to 200 bins across our locations that were impacted with over 40 million bushels of grain storage lost," says Tom Hauschel, CEO of Heartland Co-op. "We have 120 bins that we're just getting started on, and the repairs and rebuilds are ongoing. When we think we're done with one location, we find more structural damages."

Hauschel says Heartland handled the 2020 harvest for customers at several locations by either building bins back quickly or piling crops on the ground.

The Chelsea, Iowa, location that was severely damaged will not be rebuilt, and Hauschel says the board is evaluating whether other locations are worth repairing or if they should be closed.

"Our expectation for revenue losses within the company are going to approach $40 million," Hauschel says. "We're well into $25 million, and by the time we get to October, we expect to approach that $40 million mark."

Mid-Iowa Cooperative

Mid-Iowa Cooperative has 14 grain facilities, primarily located in the northeastern part of Iowa, where the strongest winds of the derecho hit. Eight locations were hit severely with two destroyed, according to Bruce Kempf, COO of Mid-Iowa Cooperative.

The Midway location, outside of Toledo, Iowa, sustained the most destruction with five large bins severely damaged or leveled. Only one bin was left standing, but the bins were rebuilt quickly, and the facility was operational for the 2020 harvest.

"The bin left standing allowed us to start bringing in beans for the fall," Kempf says. "As one bin was jacked, the other one would be full, and we would go into the next one. We had crews working around the clock to rebuild shortly after the storm."

Kempf believes jumping on the decision to rebuild quickly allowed Midway to capture bushels where others did not rebuild.

"We rebuilt about 4 million bushels of grain storage in 75 days," Kempf says. "It's still a tough year in regard to the amount of corn bushels lost, but farmers in our area are optimistic for the 2021 harvest."