Farm Rescue helps Farley family finish harvest after father's death

When Logan Pitz lost his father just over two months ago, Farm Rescue showed up to help the family finish harvest. According to the Dyersville Commercial, the nonprofit's volunteers spent Oct. 27 hauling grain from the Pitz family farm in Farley to the ethanol plant in Dyersville, with trucks making trips all day to empty out the silos. Pitz's father, Bill, died Sept. 1. Pitz has taken over the responsibilities of the farm in the interim during harvest season, alongside community volunteers, family and friends. "It means a lot, hopefully our family is living up to his name and what he was doing both as a farmer and as a person," Pitz said Oct. 27. "This fall harvest has been going, knock on wood, smooth so far so I'm sure he's helping out with that too, from above." Pitz said the help mattered because the operation does not have its own trucks. "It's a huge help for us," he said. "With our operation we don't have the trucks or anything like that, we just have to hire that out, so for them to be able to do that part of it for us right now has been a huge help." Ron Gosse and Carl Benck were among the volunteer truck drivers who made trips back and forth all day. Gosse has been with Farm Rescue for four years, serving farms across eastern Iowa. Farm Rescue is a nonprofit established in North Dakota in 2005 and founded by Bill Gross. It provides free machinery, equipment and services to family farms in need, and served its 1,300th farm earlier this year. REAL DUBUQUE NEWS (RDN)