HORACE — Farm Rescue, a nonprofit organization that provides free planting, haying, harvesting, commodity hauling and livestock feeding assistance to farm and ranch families who have experienced a major injury, illness or natural disaster, has received a generous donation of replacement parts from John Deere Seeding Group in Valley City.

Since the very first seeds of hope were planted by Farm Rescue volunteers back in 2006, the nonprofit has proudly utilized John Deere equipment to support its planting assistance efforts. These machines have served the organization well over the years, but with the large number of acres and road miles covered on an annual basis, these machines occasionally need updates and refurbishment.

John Deere and John Deere Seeding Group of Valley City have been incredible supporters of Farm Rescue’s mission throughout its history, sponsoring vital equipment and replacement parts to keep field operations running smoothly. In 2018, John Deere Seeding Group sponsored the replacement of all seed discs on Farm Rescue’s 1890 John Deere air seeding units. Several employees also volunteered to perform this extensive service work.

This year, the company is going above and beyond yet again to supply new rock shafts and other state-of-the-art components to overhaul Farm Rescue’s two air seeding units. Recently, Farm Rescue staff and volunteers had the opportunity to meet the employees responsible for building the components, as they were loaded on the nonprofit’s semi trailers at John Deere Seeding Group’s Valley City facility.

“The team here in Valley City was excited to see the Farm Rescue trucks arrive,” said Dale Patrick, Factory Materials manager, John Deere Seeding Group. “They had a chance to visit with Dan and Luke from the Farm Rescue team and ask more about the organization and its mission. Several John Deere Valley City team members even asked how they could help to volunteer. The John Deere team in Valley City takes pride in continuing to support Farm Rescue and their mission through donations and volunteerism. We are honored to be a partner with Farm Rescue and are excited to continue serving as a key sponsor.”

“Farm Rescue is very thankful to John Deere and John Deere Seeding Group for their continued generosity and support of our mission,” said Bill Gross, founder and president of Farm Rescue. “We are honored to utilize John Deere’s high-quality equipment in our assistance operations and these updated components will allow us to serve many farm families in crisis throughout the years ahead.”

Additional volunteers were scheduled to be working to install the updated components on Farm Rescue’s air seeding units, which will be used to support a busy planting assistance season this spring.

Farm Rescue was founded in 2005 and has helped more than 850 families since its inception. The organization’s mission is to help farmers and ranchers who have experienced a major illness, injury, or natural disaster by providing the necessary equipment and volunteer labor to perform time-sensitive services. Applications for assistance are currently being accepted and can be obtained at 252-2017 or www.farmrescue.org.