Farmer Sonny Warrack said hail destroyed a charity barley crop. (CBC)

A service group has found a silver lining in the clouds that brought a hailstorm to southern Alberta, destroying more than 400,000 hectares of crops.

The Lions Club in Cheadle, just east of Calgary, planned to sell a barley crop and donate the cash to a charity that feeds people in the developing world. The same group donated $100,000 each of the last two years to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

But Monday morning's hailstorm destroyed the group's hard work.

"A crop that used to be around waist high was chopped down and looked like someone came out with a brush cutter," Sonny Warrack said.

Crop insurance will cover the losses, and the group will donate the money to the charity. A poor growing season means the insurance money could be more than the profit from the crop would have been, Warrack said.

"We have accomplished our goal again through our good fortune of having this crop insured," he said.

The Lions Club will run the project again next year and will try to set the record for most combines used during a harvest.

In Alberta, a provincial Crown corporation provides crop insurance.