By Matthew Wilde
Progressive Farmer Associate Editor
Straight-line winds that reached 90 miles per hour ripped off a large portion of the roof of Blake Reynolds’ farm shop on June 28, 2018.
The 32-year-old Indianola, Iowa, farmer and agribusiness owner was starting to outgrow his then 6-year-old shop. Mother Nature dictated he replace it sooner rather than later.
Reynolds and Jeff Thompson, a technician and sales associate with Reynolds Ag Solutions, were inside the shop when the violent storm hit. Thankfully, no one was hurt.
?We lost power, heard a big bang and the roof was gone that quick,? Reynolds said. ?We got out, and the trusses fell down on top of everything, sucking in the sidewalls. I was in shock.?
Only the concrete floor was salvageable of what Reynolds called a nice but flawed building.
Reynolds will never call the storm a blessing, but the young farmer was handed an unexpected shop do-over.
