Farming communities in Minnesota and Iowa cleaning up after tornadoes

Aug 22, 2017
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content, Farms.com

National Weather Service confirms four tornadoes touched down

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

Agricultural communities in Rushmore, Minnesota and Melvin, Iowa are beginning to pick up the pieces after a total of four tornadoes damaged farms in both states last week.

The National Weather Service confirmed two tornadoes directly hit in Minnesota on August 18. Another started in Minnesota and crossed the border into Iowa and the final tornado stayed in Iowa.

Communities come together to clean up after tornadoes destroy farms
While the weather was quiet Saturday, Friday brought a big night of severe weather. The National Weather Service confirmed that three E-F1 tornadoes touched down in southwest Minnesota Friday night. The first two hit near Rushmore around 7:30 P.M., the third struck near Bigelow shortly after. Then just before 8:30 P.M.

None of the tornadoes lasted more than 30 minutes, but left extensive damage to local farms, destroying crops and killing about 30 hogs.

“The neighbours and I together were well over $200,000 worth of loss in less than 20 minutes,” Rodney Bosma, a producer from Rushmore, told KSFY.

At 7:26 p.m. on August 18, an EF1 tornado (86-100 mph winds) touched down in Rushmore, North of the I-90.

Then at 7:37 p.m., another EF1 tornado touched down in Rushmore, South of the I-90.

And at 7:47 p.m., an EF1 tornado touched down near Bigelow, MN, and crossed into northern Iowa.

Then at 8:07 p.m., an EF2 tornado (111-135 mph winds) touched down near Melvin, IA.

And despite the damage done by the twisters, there were no human injuries to report.

“(The Melvin, IA tornado) actually struck two farmsteads and thankfully no one was home at that point in time,” Todd Heitkamp, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, told Radio Iowa.

Since the storms, the communities have collected donations to help the impacted families.

“We will always figure out different options and living in a small town somebody always is there for you to help you if you need it,” Bosma told KSFY.

Top photo: Damaged corn near Rushmore, MN/National Weather Service

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.