Source: KMVT News
After Thursday's thunderstorms and hail, Brandon Christopherson saw damage to the farm he works on. Christopherson works at Lockwood Farms in Eden, Idaho, and was out doing other work when he came across the ptoato field farm.
"When we came by here and saw it, it was just, "Ouch,'" he said.
He said the crops will survive, but the plants will struggle.
"This'll set back the crop two to three weeks, probably, because it's got to regrow the leaves," he said.
Christopherson said the crops were "nice and bushy" plants and now they're nearly "mulched."
"It's pretty crazy what the weather can do to crops," he said.
Now, the crop will have to heal itself before producing potatoes. Chistopherson said the hail that struck was about the size of a dime.
"It was just right in between the rows of those spuds. Just handfuls of hail," he said.
They try to plan before a storm, Christopherson said.
"We have our watering schedule and if it comes through and dumps a half-inch of rain, we've got to adjust it so we don't put down too much water," he said.
He said the farm shut off all 26 of its their pivots.
"Whenever we get a storm, this throws us off. Then we've got to re-plan," he said.
Now they have to wait a few more weeks in the fall before being able to harvest the crop.