BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A unique farm aid organization started in North Dakota six years ago by an airplane pilot has grown steadily from its humble beginnings with less than a handful of volunteers and very little money and is now expanding into its fifth state.

Farm Rescue this fall will begin harvesting crops for injured, ill or disaster-stricken farmers in Iowa. The organization supported by volunteers, donations and business sponsors for the next several weeks will bring a decorated combine that spokeswoman Elizabeth Reiss compares to “a traveling billboard” to more than half a dozen cities to raise awareness.

Bill Gross, a North Dakota farm boy who now flies for UPS out of Anchorage, Alaska, started Farm Rescue in 2006 in his home state with three volunteers.