For the past five years, Wade Peterson of Baraboo has dedicated his time to Farm Rescue. This is an organization helping farm families facing illness, injury, or natural disasters. Even in retirement, he’s committed to lending a hand.
“My plan is to try to do two weeks in the spring and two weeks in the fall to help,” Peterson said. “This spring, I did about two weeks. I did three soybean cases in North Dakota, and then I helped finish up a corn case in North Dakota.”
Farm Rescue recently expanded into Wisconsin. It relies on volunteers like Peterson to plant, harvest, haul hay, and even feed livestock for families who can’t do the work themselves.
“It could be a natural disaster, it could be a health issue, it could be a fire,” Peterson explained.
This spring alone, Peterson air-seeded around 2,000 acres of soybeans across three North Dakota farms. He continues to step in wherever he can, including representing Farm Rescue at Wisconsin Farm Technology Days.
Wisconsin joined Farm Rescue’s territory just last year, and Peterson has already helped with cases in the state.
“I actually did the very first case last summer for a young lady who needed assistance,” he recalled. “I went down to Kansas with the semi, picked up a load of hay, and brought it back to her to help her with her beef operation.”
Peterson says there are now about a dozen Farm Rescue volunteers in Wisconsin. He hopes more will join, as the need for help continues to grow.
“You can see it in pretty much every case we go to, how helpful it is,” he said. “Some of them have never asked for help in their entire life. They struggle watching us do the work for them, but in the end, every case has been a really good case.”
