DALLAS — Let’s start with some farm trivia: What kind of farmer wants tons of sunshine, a lot of rain, as many hard freezes as possible, and plenty of damaging winds and large hail for their crop?

Not all of those would be on the typical farmer’s wish list. But all of those elements create the perfect conditions for a crop of shingles at a roof farm in South Carolina that is run by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS).

As IBHS Chief Engineer Anne Cope explains, “We light buildings on fire, we shoot hail, we blow hurricane force winds, we destroy things. We tear things up so that the choices our communities can make today, tomorrow, and in the future are going to be stronger.” The aim is to strengthen the building materials we all use.

Roofs are a huge consideratio

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