Difficult choices faced farmers after a late June hailstorm battered corn and soybean fields west of Spencer across an area about 7 miles wide and 20 miles long, said Paul Kassel, ISU Extension crop specialist in northwest Iowa. Hailstones as large as ping pong balls were reported, and wind speeds reached up to 70 miles per hour.

“The hail damage hit an area where the corn and soybean crops were...