This February the Carazo province of Nicaragua is hot and getting hotter. Strong winds lift dust off of fallow summer fields and bring it into our houses and blow it against our dry and watering eyes. The scalding sun is seldom blocked out by clouds. We are fast approaching the dog days of summer, when water is so scarce that many of the trees lose their leaves. Yet, it is in this context that our ministry and the people we work with plan for and converse excitedly about the coming growing season. Indeed, we now are well into 2016, and as we consider what this still new year will hold we draw on our experiences from 2015 for guidance.
The second growing cycle of 2015 has now come to a close, although we continue to buy beans from producers 
even into this month. Despite high hopes as long-awaited rains finally fell in October and November, this cycle brought new challenges with it. Yields were significantly reduced by a cutworm outbreak. In fact, around 35% of our producers didn’t harvest at all. Of the 65% of growers that did harvest, we yielded an average of seven quintales, or hundred-pound sacks, per manzana (1.74 acres), which comes out to about 6.7 bushels per acre. This was only 35% of our goals for yield, which are more like 20 quintales/manzana, or 19.2 bushels/acre. As we began to detect this worm outbreak our team and producers responded quickly to control it with insecticide applications. Yet, the scale of the infestation was overwhelming and even growers who were diligent in caring for their crops saw drastic damage to their beans and thus reduction in yields.
The challenges of this growing cycle stirred us to ask difficult questions. One can wonder in times of such trial—after two years of crop failure due to environmental conditions—where God’s hand is in all of this. We feel that we have been faithful in prayer and in doing God’s will. When faced with challenges such as those that we faced in 2015, it is natural to turn to God in confusion and despair. Yet the faithful farmers we work with have not wavered in their faith, and neither will our ministry. In 2015 we were confronted once again with new difficult challenges. We must understand that this is a fallen world, and that even working in rural agriculture in Nicaragua we are deeply affected by the long legacy of sin that confronts all who work for God’s Kingdom. Thus, we look to 2016 in good faith and with the constant hope for the coming of God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
The new year did in fact open on a hopeful note, despite the difficulties we faced in 2015. January and now February have been full of visits from some incredibly faithful people who work with our ministry. Despite poor harvests and the constant economic necessities of the home and family, numerous growers who did not manage to pay off their debts with the ministry have come to our doors to pay their debt in full or in part. We as La Semilla Ministries are overwhelmingly encouraged by these visits, for they indicate that our producers see the value of our work and are willing to sacrifice for us so that we may continue to exist and to support our producers in the future.
On this positive note, we now approach the third month of this new year. We are thankful for the opportunities we have to reflect on our experiences in the past year and to discern God’s will for La Semilla Ministries for the coming year. Despite the heat and wind and dust, we are dreaming of the rains that God will faithfully send in May, and strategizing for what our sustainable agriculture program will look like in the 
coming growing season.
Now our beans are in the warehouse, where we’re beginning to clean, sort, and sell them. This last step of selling our beans is not a simple one, please pray for us as we struggle to find a fair market for our beans. Looking forward, we are filled with great hope and faith for the coming cycle. Pray that we will be open to God’s will for our ministry this new year.
