Farm Rescue plants the seed of good will

Apr 21, 2008 - 04:05:08 CDT

By TONY SPILDE
Bismarck Tribune

NAPOLEON - A blue plastic cereal bowl sat on Tom Glatt's kitchen counter, next to the ham and the bread, not far from the coffee.

The bowl was chosen, no doubt, for its size, which was just large enough to hold all the little brown bottles of prescription medication that threatened to spill over the side, onto the ham.

The medicine was for Glatt.

The ham sandwiches and the coffee were for the legion of helpers who descended on his farm at around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. They came, they farmed and, just like that, they were gone and down the trail to the next spot.

Farm Rescue, the nonprofit outfit started by North Dakota native Bill Gross, is back in the field.

Now in its third year, Farm Rescue is helping an even greater number of farmers to get their crops in the ground.

"I don't know what Iwould have done if it wasn't for them," Glatt, still weak from a heart-valve replacement, said Sunday afternoon.

Gross, a former North Dakota farmboy, started the assistance program in 2006 as a way to give back to the way of life he'd known and loved. Farm Rescue helps farm families who are struggling through no fault of their own. Some of them have suffered major injuries or illnesses. Others have lost machinery and buildings to tornadoes. All have a financial hardship and need help to stay on the farm.

Farm Rescue doesn't cut checks. It puts each family's major crop into the ground. In the fall, it will help different families during harvest.

On Sunday, half a dozen volunteers worked on Glatt's farm south of Napoleon. They planted 700 acres of wheat. Glatt, who isn't married and doesn't have children, said he would have been in dire straits without Farm Rescue. He had a heart valve replaced just a few weeks ago, right before spring planting.

"I can't lift anything, I can't do anything I need to do right now," Glatt said. "This is absolutely the wrong time for it to happen. It was so great to see (Farm Rescue) drive up into the yard."

Glatt applied for assistance from Farm Rescue through its headquarters, which are located in Jamestown. He and 25 other farmers were selected from a pool of about 50 applicants, Gross said.

Fifty is also the number of volunteers who will be helping with the spring planting at 26 farms located throughout North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. Farm Rescue doubled in size from 2007, Gross said, due in large part to the growing number of people who wanted to help.

"We had good-hearted volunteers come forward from all over the nation that support the program," Gross said Sunday.

Vehicle license plates from South Dakota, Wisconsin and even New Jersey were visible in Glatt's farmyard.

Dave Mitchell, a volunteer from New Jersey who'd never worked with farm equipment, heard about Farm Rescue last year on a trip through South Dakota. He e-mailed Gross and told him he'd like to help however he could. On Sunday, that meant loading seed into the hoppers donated by RDOEquipment.

"Iknow absolutely nothing about farming," Mitchell said. "But I'm here for as long as Bill needs me."

That will probably be for close to a month, as the Farm Rescue crews make their rounds. The number of clients doubled this year, and so did the number of crews - from one to two. RDO gave Gross about $1 million worth of equipment to drive around the three-state area. The four-wheel drive John Deere tractors pull air seeders across the fields, shooting wheat, oats or other small grains into the farmers' land. Diesel for the tractors is donated, but farmers supply the seed and fertilizer.

Few volunteers know how Farm Rescue works better than Alvin Agnew, who suffered a stroke last year and needed help planting his crop on his farm near Moffit. Farm Rescue came to Agnew's aid in 2007. This year he saw the chance to return the favor.

"They farmed for me, so I said I would help them this year out of respect,"Agnew said. "Farm Rescue is very good. It takes the place of the old-time 'farming bees,' where neighbors helped neighbors."

That's the main reason Gross - who flies 747s for UPS as his day job - started Farm Rescue.

"I've seen over the years how there's fewer farms and less children on each of those farms,"he said. "When a major injury or illness happens, it's harder for neighbors to help each other. I could see a trend where there was an organization needed to help farmers in a time of crisis."

In addition to farming for Glatt, the Farm Rescue volunteers worked around the clock over the weekend at farms near Strasburg, Wishek and Hazelton.

Like Glatt, Hazelton-area farmer Ed Scherr had a heart valve replaced recently. He fainted and fell off his tractor while doing chores on Dec. 20, and his sister rushed him to a Bismarck hospital. Scherr said he's feeling better, but - again like Glatt - he farms alone and just wasn't up to the task this spring.

"It's kind of hard to ask for help,"he said. "But it's terrific what Farm Rescue can do for us."

(Reach reporter Tony Spilde at 250-8260 or tony.spilde@bismarcktribune.com.)

Reprinted with permission of the Bismarck Tribune. April 21, 2008