PLYMOUTH (NBC 26) — Yesterday, the Old Plank Farm near Plymouth was operating like it was any normal day.
But then owner Stephanie Bartel got a text message from a friend in Campbellsport.
"They said hail is coming your way," Bartel said. "And we looked on our radars and didn't actually see a lot in the general area."
Bartel says it dumped so much that it looked like snow.
"In about 15 minutes, the hail came and went and took a lot of the crops with it," Bartel said.
Bartel says around half of the crops they had planted are likely gone.
She says it's something she has never seen in the nearly 20 years she's owned the business.
"It's early enough in the season that there is regrowth potential for some things," Bartel said. "I would say the biggest, most mature crops suffered the most."
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Meanwhile, roughly ten miles to the southwest near Cascade, Kristy Rentmeester says their hundreds of acres of corn and soybean crops were impacted as well.
"Our road was just covered in hail, you would have thought it was almost a snowstorm," Rentmeester said. "Then the kids and I sat in the car for about ten minutes watching the hail come on down. I've never seen such a thing."
Rentmeester says the size of the hail ranged from dime-sized pieces to about a quarter inch.
But after she made some phone calls with other farming experts last night, she says she is optimistic.
"They are hopeful the corn will bounce back," Rentmeester said. "We are going to kind of wait and see on the soybeans. So it's a waiting game right now."
While the farmers I spoke with say they are saddened by the damage. They will keep pushing forward and replant what was killed by the hail, or just work with what they have.
