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Storms bring Wisconsin farmers more challenges

Widespread storm damage in Wisconsin has farmers adjusting to more adversity.

High winds and scattered tornadoes Saturday morning left farmers with more crop concerns and clean-up work.  One of them is John Eron, west of Stevens Point. He says, “We saw a lot of center-pivots that were, many of the towers toppled if not the entire systems. A lot of sweet corn that was blown down. Around here, a lot of the corn took a lot of damage. We’re going to have a lot of goose-necking.”

Damage was more extensive in the neighborhood of Farmers Union National Vice President Patty Edelburg north of Amherst, where neighbors made it possible for them to milk cows. “A neighbor willingly offered his generator to us. People are helping everybody cut down trees, put up fences.”

And Edelburg says the storms caused several problems for everyone at the county fair in Rosholt. “A tornado came through right in the middle of the dairy show. At least, we’re assuming it was a tornado. We had trees down, trucks flattened, trailers flattened. A tree fell right behind the 4H food stand, literally where kids were working.”

Linemen from several states are trying to restore power to thousands of farms and homes in many areas of the state.