Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
'Goosenecked' corn abundant across region
Travelers passing throughout northwest Iowa aren't seeing things.
Several local cornfields have stalks with a curve near their base. These aren't new hybrids, but rather the plant's reaction to the July 5 derecho.
The storm barreled through northwest Iowa leaving downed power lines, felled trees and flattened fields in its wake. Wind speeds around Hartley reached 79 mph, which slanted several local cornfields.
"Most of the crop damage was corn that 'lodged' or tilted at about a 45 degree angle in northern counties," said ISU Extension agronomist Joel DeJong, whose nine-county territory include...