At noon one day, rain, starting softly in America's farm belt (7)

I believe the answer is:

midwest

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'starting softly in america's farm belt' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'at noon one day rain' is the wordplay.
'at' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'noon' becomes 'm'.
'one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
'day' becomes 'd' (abbreviation for day).
'rain' becomes 'west' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'm' next to 'i' is 'mi'.
'mi'+'d'+'west'='MIDWEST'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for midwest that I've seen before include "US states including Illinois" , "North central region of the United States" , "Area from Ohio to the Rockies" , "Mist dew (anag.)" , "Region from Ohio to the Rockies" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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