September 2011 - Iowa Pork Producers Association

Pork Industry News and Updates
Derecho impacts eastern Iowa grain
storage
About the only thing hit harder than hog barns in
the derecho that blasted through Iowa early July 11
was grain storage and it’s created a lot of concern
with harvest season upon us.
Pork producers show community support
in wake of derecho
The pork industry came to the aid of several towns that
suffered severe damage in the devastating derecho that
struck central and eastern Iowa the morning of July 11.
The Tama County
communities of Clutier,
Garwin and Dysart were
among the hardest hit towns.
Homes were damaged, trees were downed and the
towns were without electricity.
Story, Marshall, Tama and Benton counties suffered
the greatest amount of damage in the storm that
produced winds of 100 mph, but Tama and Benton
counties lost a good share of its grain storage
capacity.
The Iowa Pork Producers Association received a call
from the Tama County Sheriff ’s office the following
morning, asking if the local pork producers could
provide a meal that night for Garwin residents at
the community center, which was powered by an
emergency generator and serving as a Red Cross shelter
and emergency command post.
John Weber, a pork producer from Dysart and past
president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association,
says a lot of farmers lost their on-farm storage.
“Crop storage is going to be a huge issue for a lot of
people,” said Weber. “The three area cooperatives all
lost their steel storage structures.”
Weber lost 10 separate grain bins himself and many
others around Tama County were heavily damaged
or completely destroyed in the storm.
A nearby Benton County co-op was hoping to have
a new one million bushel capacity grain bin built in
time for the fall harvest.
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SEPTEMBER 2011