The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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June 22, 2007

Farmers face hail damage decision

By Tim Krohn

LE SUEUR — Seth Naeve sorted through a pile of soybean plants brought into a shed from area fields recently hit by hail.

“I’d call this one a loss and this one a keeper,” said Naeve, a University of Minnesota soybean agronomist.

The differences in the plants were not obvious to an untrained eye. They both were almost completely stripped of leaves. The difference was that one still had enough stem joints where new shoots will grow to make it a viable plant.

Whether to leave battered corn and soybean crops in the field, whether to replant, or whether to plow them under and call it a year were questions farmers came to get answers to Friday at the Highway Ag fertilizer plant near Le Sueur.

Farmer Dave Preuhs said the hail that moved through Le Sueur County Wednesday evening was spectacular and devastating.

“There was so much big hail. It put dents in the Weber grill, took out windows and banged up the cars,” said Preuhs, who experienced field damage.

The storm damaged about 12,000 acres of crops. The hail, covering a 11⁄2 mile swath, started north of Le Sueur along Highway 169, then moved south and easterly toward Le Center.

The bad news farmers heard from the Extension agents is that it’s probably too late to replant corn — unless they are using it for silage — and that replanting soybeans will mean about a 50 percent reduction in yields.

Plus, farmers have to factor in the added cost of seed and fuel necessary for replanting.

But they also heard some good news.

“A lot of times it looks a lot worse than it is,” said Extension agent Dave Nicolia about the mangled corn and soybean leaves.

Corn often will survive and lose only some yield if it is not broken below the “growing point” — the spot where the ears will develop and the top of the plant will continue to grow up. And soybeans are a durable plant that will shoot up new growth quickly if enough of the stem remains and isn’t too badly dented.

Gary Thelemann, who came to the meeting believing he would probably have to replant his 100-acre soybean field, left thinking differently.

“Based on what I heard here, I may not replant,” Thelemann said.

He said the window of replanting soybeans is almost closed and whether he’d get even 50 percent of a crop would depend heavily on the weather. “The weather plays a huge role if you replant now.”

Most of the farmers were waiting for their insurance adjusters to view the damage and make their recommendations before deciding what to do.

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