Bismarck, N.D. (AP) The Farm Rescue organization in the northern plains has hired a former farmers union leader as its first full-time development director.
Fifty-four-year-old Dennis Wiese of Flandreau, South Dakota, is a former longtime president of the South Dakota Farmers Union and a former secretary and treasurer of the National Farmers Union. He farms with family members in eastern South Dakota and runs a consulting business.
North Dakota-based Farm Rescue helps farmers in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa and Montana struck by illness, injury or disaster. The nonprofit that plants and harvests crops with the help of volunteers, donations and business sponsors helped its 300th farm family this fall.
Wiese says his role will be outreach and public relations, to strengthen fundraising and support for farm rescue and "sustain the organization decades-out.''