Eye on Agriculture - Farm Rescue With National Recognition

The word it out about this small group or retired farmers and volunteers that have been and conti...  More »

The word it out about this small group or retired farmers and volunteers that have been and continue to help farmers in their time of crisis. Farm Rescue was thrust into the national limelight this summer when its founder and President Bill Gross, a UPS Pilot, was honored with a CNN Heroes award for his tireless work to get the organization off the ground and running. That was followed by a spread in People mAgazine and numerous others that have all rushed to the heartland to cover this group of amazing volunteers. (Gene Spichke, Farm Rescue Volunteer) Spring work we had a gentleman came out from New Jersey. He came out last year and loved the state and came back and heard about Farm Rescue, he helped. Two fellas came out, father and son from Kansas, came out for a week and helped us for a week and a we've had volunteers from South Dakota, Wisconsin. Word it getting out and people are coming out to help. That's good. Even with all the attention Farm Rescue is staying true to its cause... helping a fellow farmer in need. A farmer like Joel Erickson. (Joel Erickson, Farms north of Glenburn) I had my surgery in February and thought I was healing up pretty good but well things don't always go the way they're supposed to. Joel's set back from back surgery left him unable to operate his equipment right at the time when 200 acres of spring wheat was ripe and ready for harvest. (Joel Erickson, Farms north of Minot) Suppose I could have tried to round up a custom harvester but they always don't like to work for the smaller acreages. Even for Farm Rescue it's one of their smaller cases but it's making a big difference for Joel Erickson. A wheat crop that's ripe, coming off the field in time and going right into the bin. (Joel Erickson, Farms north of Minot) Yup, yup definitely. The Farm Rescue crew is now taking a break as their next stop is helping a few injured producers harvest Soybeans which won't ready for a few weeks. However Monday the group will be once again center stage with all of the country in attenDance. President and Founder Bill Gross will be speaking at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis about what it means to give hope to someone who's in their darkest hour. North of Minot, Shaun Sipma KX News.  « Less