Some growers in the Holland Marsh say this has been a destructive year for their crops, having faced drought, flooding and damaging hail.
Friday’s storm damaged an estimated 2,000 acres of crops in the Holland Marsh area. Farmer Mike Miedema describes seeing the hail chop and shred his crops to smithereens.
“The damage is widespread and pretty severe because where it's hit hard it might be a complete loss,” he says.
The hailstones were so large they left dents in trucks. Some people reported seeing hail the size of a Canadian staple – the Timbit.
The damage to some crops was so severe that growers wrote-off some fields entirely. Those who want to try to recover the crop could end up losing more money.
“Now you have to weigh it off if you think you can bring it back or not because you could throw a lot of money into something that might not materialize,” Miedema. “We're praying for a miracle that things will bounce back and plants will be healed and that's what we're counting on right now
Herman Gasko says he'll do what he thinks is right. This season’s severe weather has taken a big toll on his farm, but he'll take the chance of re-seeding his carrot field for the third time this year.
“Once blown out, once hailed out. Hopefully the third time is a charm,” he says. “There's no plans in this business. You go by almost a gut feeling and try, try again.”
