Candid Conversation presents a question-and-answer discussion about the topical issues related to Kentucky Farm Bureau (KFB) priorities, the agricultural industry, and rural communities. In this edition, Farm Rescue’s Manager of Industry Engagement, Terry Johnston, discusses the organization’s purpose and its dedication to help farm families in their hours of need.

Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a podcast conversation between Johnston and KFB News. To hear the entire conversation, scan the QR code. 

KFB: Tell our readers about Farm Rescue; what it is, how long it has been around, and how it works.

TJ: Farm Rescue is a volunteer-based nonprofit organization founded in 2005 by Bill Gross, a North Dakota farm kid who, unable to return to the farm, later sought a way to give back to family farms in need. It initially began helping a family or two with a borrowed tractor and planter from the local John Deere dealer. And from there, it has grown 20 years later into serving 10 states now, and we've been very blessed to serve just over 1200 families in that time. We help families for a lot of different reasons. It might be a health issue, an injury, or some type of natural disaster, such as a tornado, flood, drought, or wildfire.

KFB: What are some of the things the volunteers do on the farms?

TJ: Our volunteers are the key to our success. We've got several hundred of them from all over the United States who are willing to come in and serve when these families need us. When that happens, our volunteers come in sometimes with equipment, sometimes we use the family's equipment, and we can help them with different things. Planting is one of those, and we do a lot of that along with harvesting, baling and hauling hay. We've hauled hay into a lot of situations after floods or blizzards or wildfires, where the ranchers, farmers are in need of feed supplies. So we round up volunteers and donated hay to haul in on those situations.

KFB: How does Farm Rescue connect with the farm family that needs that support?

TJ: We do that a lot of ways. Of course, through grassroots organizations like Farm Bureau and their great communication and membership loyalty from your members. The word spreads throughout a network, and generally speaking, I would say most of the families that we help come from a referral. Maybe it's a family member, somebody in their community, maybe it's their Farm Bureau rep, or their seed salesperson, or the local John Deere dealer. Then, we'll reach out to that family and just see if we can help and if they are willing to let us help. That's probably the main way that we learn. People can easily get ahold of us. They can go to our website, it's farmrescue.org and fill out an application or refer a family or simply call us. We don't ever want to miss helping a family that needs help because they don't know about us, or, are a little shy or too proud to ask.

KFB: Does any of it surprise you when it comes to the many volunteers that you have who are willing to help? More likely than not, these folks have farms of their own, and they're giving up time on their farm to help others.

TJ: It does not at all. Farm Rescue was based on exactly the premise of neighbor helping neighbor. In this case, the neighbors may be just living a little bit farther away, but many of our volunteers are current or retired farmers. We have a lot of other retired professionals, maybe they work for John Deere or one of our other partner sponsor companies, but folks from all walks of life who are experienced with farm machinery and (work on the farm,) and they are a wonderful bunch. I would love for anybody to ever meet our volunteers. They are the most compassionate, caring folks. They want to do a good job for that family. They know it means everything to them. It's their livelihood, and if we're not helping enough people, they're calling us saying, "Hey, how can we help? Have you got any families lined up for us to come serve?" And they'll come all the way from North Carolina, California, Florida, and of course, all over the Midwest to help these families when they're going through a tough time.

KFB: If you go to your website, you can find literally dozens of partners listed. How valuable are those partnerships in helping to make Farm Rescue a success?

TJ: Well, to define the success of Farm Rescue is for us to help more families. That's our number one goal. Of course, in order to do that, it takes money. But number one is getting the word out that we're here, that we can help. Goal two is to pay for our equipment, machinery costs, and housing and feeding our volunteers, if they allow us. Some do not, but it takes a lot of money to keep that operation going. We have been blessed for 20 years with folks willing to step up and support family farms, support Farm Rescue's mission, and anybody who would like to help with that can by contacting me or going to our website farmrescue.org. Partnerships and volunteers are critical to our mission, for sure.

KFB: Any estimate on the number of volunteers you have or need, and do they all need to be active or retired farmers?

TJ: The number of volunteers is a moving target because we have new ones coming on at all times. We have or have had volunteers from almost every state. Some have retired as they get up in age, but several hundred would certainly be an accurate count, maybe 300 to 400. Some of our volunteers are ready, willing, and able to help with the farm equipment and operations, and livestock feeding, and others just like to come along to trade shows or show up at maybe the annual Farm Bureau meetings and tell people about Farm Rescue and their experience with Farm Rescue. So, it takes all kinds, and we'd love to have the help.

KFB: No matter where you go or what they grow, farmers are a collective family. They all face some of the same challenges, and that’s probably something that you've noticed over the 20 years, how big this family this really is.

TJ: I've traveled all over the United States, North America, South America, Europe, and when you meet farmers, they are all friendly, they're all curious, they're all independent, and they all suffer some of the same struggles. Of course, the weather is our number one foe. We all deal with that anywhere. It doesn't matter whether we're producing field peas or tobacco or soybeans or corn or wheat, whatever it is. And of course, the price is never as good as it should be, with the exception of a few years, as we all know, and good help is hard to find. So yeah, it's the same struggle anywhere you go, and we're just happy to be able to help with what we can to keep that family in business.

As you know, wherever you go, 95-plus percent of the farms and ranches are owned by families. And when they get in a pinch, there's no paid time off or extra help or somebody to step in, and so that's where we like to come in. We know neighbors like to help, and we certainly never discourage that. We'll gladly come in alongside the neighbors and help get that crop in or get it out, feed the livestock, bail the hay, whatever it takes to make sure they get through that rough period and come out the other side and be able to continue that legacy.

KFB: When looking at the economic side of farming, is it safe to say that Farm Rescue helps to support those local farm economies by helping those farm families?

TJ: Absolutely. We want to keep those families in those communities and keep them in business for sure, and it's important to all of us. We all come from rural and small towns, and we know how vital it is to keep those folks there. We want to keep those churches and schools and businesses alive and well, and people living in those houses, and in those small communities.

Agriculture is obviously a huge part of the economy in any country in the world, and it's no different here, and we're just really happy to be part of that.

KFB: Kentucky is the 10th state in which Farm Rescue is associated. What other state are you working in, and do you expect to expand those numbers?

TJ: We're currently in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin, and now Kentucky. But yes, absolutely, we would love to move on into Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, wherever we can go where we have the expertise and the availability of equipment and so forth to help these families. Right now, we're going to focus on the 10 states we're in, but more states are on our radar, and there are always folks coming to us with inquiries and so we want to continue, God willing, another 20 years and beyond.