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Minnesota farmer helpless as hail shreds hope for bumper crop

A farmer in west-central Minnesota was expecting a bumper crop until a hailstorm shredded the area earlier this month.

Jamie Beyer of Wheaton says when she heard the hail hitting the window the night of July 8th, she knew it wasn’t good.

“And it lasted a long time. In our area we had quarter-sized hail, and the next morning we drove out and it looked like significant hail damage for a swath of about five miles by 20 miles.”

Beyer tells Brownfield she was shocked by the devastation.

“In 23 years of farming, my husband said he’s never seen a total crop loss like we’re anticipating. So we were out there and started taking pictures and sending them directly to our loan office and insurance agent, getting them lined up and letting them know what we’re seeing.”

The current Minnesota Soybean Growers Association president says they had corn ready to tassel that was reduced to stems by the hail.

Beyer estimates about 750 acres of soybeans were affected, 200 acres of corn, and 100 acres of sugarbeets.  But with the beets being underground, she says they’ll probably only see a loss in sugar content.

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