A storm packing hurricane-force winds tore across the U.S. Midwest on Monday, causing widespread property damage in cities and rural towns and leaving more than half a million homes and businesses without power. The storm compounded troubles for a U.S. farm economy already battered by extreme weather, the U.S.-China trade war, and most recently, the disruption caused to labor and consumption by the COVID-19 pandemic. Winds as high as 100 miles per hour (160 kph) hit eastern Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin and parts of Illinois in the widespread storm classified as a “derecho” by the National Weather Service. It toppled grain bins in dozens of counties and tore into livestock farms in Iowa, the nation’s top hog and corn producer. Bin losses, ahead of this fall’s harvest, could leave some farmers scrambling to find storage for their crops, said agronomists. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, global commodities trader […]