MELROSE, Minn. — It’s been a challenging year.
For Eric Zirbes, this farm is more than a field to grow crops. It's a part of his family's legacy.
"We take a lot of pride in what we do. Farmers are resilient," said Zirbes.
With the lack of rain causing severe drought conditions across the state for most of the summer, farmers say it may be too little, too late for their crops.
"We had corn that was drought stricken and stressed," said Zirbes.
On Saturday, Zirbes says the farm was dealt another blow when severe weather brought hail, winds and tornado warnings, damaging the farm's corn and soybean fields.
"We had a front come through. We had heard 70-80 miles per hour winds," said Zirbes. "Straight-line winds, and I think within an hour, we had 3 1/2 inches of rain and it really devastated the crops," he said. "You can't see it here, but you can see a lot of the corn is laying flatter," said Zirbes. "Beans are flat to the ground and not sure what's going to happen to those."
He says the wind came through and made it nearly impossible to harvest the remaining crops. Now, he'll try to salvage what's left of the corn crop by chopping the stock and using it to feed his cattle. "If we can get someone to come in and custom chop for us, the equipment we have is older. The newer equipment can handle the tougher harvesting conditions," he said.
As a fifth-generation farmer, Zirbes says he's trying to stay optimistic, while looking forward to better days.
"My grandpa always said, 'Don't put all your eggs in one basket.' Lucky for us, we have the cattle," he said. "We're not going to give up. I even told my wife, we'll try to get through this year and start planning for next year."