JAMESTOWN (AP) - Bill Gross grew up with farmers. Now he's a pilot, but he's coming back to the farm to help with planting.

Gross was raised on a farm near Cleveland, in central North Dakota, graduated from the University of North Dakota pilot training program in 1988, and left the state for a career as a commercial pilot.

Work took him from Florida to Kentucky to the West Coast, but he said he never forgot the challenges of life on a family farm, and he wanted to help farmers in need.

Starting next year, Gross and two fellow pilots, also graduates of UND's pilot training program and former farm kids, say they will use their vacation time to help North Dakota family farmers put in their spring crop, free of charge.

"I like farming, and it's my way to give back to the place where I was raised," Gross said.

The idea of the organization, Farm Rescue, was born in the cockpit of a plane.

"Guys always talk in the cockpit - what are you going to do when you retire? And I said 'I'm gonna buy a big tractor and drive around the country and help farmers,'" Gross said.

Gross, 38, said retirement at age 60 is mandatory for commercial pilots.

A friend, also a UND graduate, suggested Gross set up a nonprofit organization and think about his plans on a much larger scale. Gross incorporated Farm Rescue as a nonprofit in January and began looking for sponsors.

Farm Rescue will not distribute money to farmers. Donations will pay for the expenses of planting thee crops, although the labor will be provided by volunteers.

To receive aid, farmers must be residents of North Dakota, actively farm no more than 3,000 acres, and provide the seed and fertilizer.

One of the first to sign on as a sponsor was RDO Equipment of Fargo. RDO agreed to donate the use of a John Deere four-wheel drive tractor and no-till planter, along with transportation and maintenance of the equipment, for the spring planting season in 2006.

The approximate value of RDO's donation is $70,000 - the kind of corporate involvement Gross said he was looking for.

Another local sponsor, Haybuster Agricultural Products, is providing booth space at this year's Big Iron Farm Show in Fargo, for Farm Rescue to raise awareness and funds.