And some get rained out
I am beginning to experience the life of a farmer first hand. I am seeing things that I never understood before. For example, how is it that you pray for months for rain, and then directly during harvest when you cannot use the rain you get a deluge? I am learning that you cannot control the weather or the outcome of your labour. But I am also learning that God is still in control despite what it may look like around you.
So, starting off at the beginning: in the October 29th blog I wrote that Theresa and I had not been able to bring our newly purchased disc and boxblade into Mexico when we crossed in the beginning of October. I also mentioned that I expected that our harvest would begin any day around the beginning part of November and we felt that we would need to wait until the harvest was over to go north again to attempt a second time to bring the equipment across. Sugarcane harvest is completely controlled by both the sugarcane processing plant and the cane syndicate, and the individual grower has no say in the actual time of the harvesting. When word is received that the process will begin on your field you must be ready and at their beck and call at a moments notice.
Around the first part of November we got word that our harvest would not begin until later on in the month, possibly not until the latter part of November or into December. At that point Javier and I decided to make a quick trip north to see if we could bring the much-needed equipment across with the help of Rafael Dueñas, the brother in Laredo who had made it possible to cross with the tractor and equipment earlier this year.
On Saturday morning (November 10th), we got an early start and headed north. Javier got out at Cd. Victoria (about
Sugarcane cutter with machete in hand
half way to the border) and we loaded him onto a bus for Monterrey. Since my return trip from Laredo would take me further west than normal and directly through Monterrey, his intention was to spend the time that I was in the States with some pastors in the Monterrey area that he has worked with over the years. We would then meet up at Berea Bible Institute just outside of Monterrey when I returned south. It was at Berea that we hoped to talk to a young couple that we felt might be perfect for the role of leader-couple for the Training and Discipleship Center on the farm.
After dropping off Javier I headed directly north to the U.S. border and crossed over to Donna where I spent the night with good friends of ours. The loaded trailer was being stored at their place, so on Sunday morning I hooked up the load and headed west to Laredo.
On Monday morning when I got to the office and warehouse I found that Rafael had not yet returned from Mexico City. However, I began the import process with one of the young men from his office that had been very instrumental in the crossing of the tractor earlier in the year.
Days of waiting for paperwork to be completed dragged on, and by Wednesday night I got word from Rafael that it might be best if I headed back to Cd. Valles and returned to Laredo later when the import process was finished. The hitch was with obtaining the proper permits from SAGARPA, the acronym for Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentación (Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food). It was a purely bureaucratically tangled web, but since the equipment was used in another country all kinds of hoops needed to be jumped through in order to import it into Mexico.
Stack of cane ready for loading onto truck
On Thursday midmorning I got word that the wait might very likely be another two weeks or more. At that point I knew that I was skunked once again by Mexican bureaucracy, and I decided to head back to Monterrey to pick up Javier. The saga of the disc would continue later.
Javier and I spent a profitable time together at Berea Bible Institute on Thursday night. However, during our time there it became evident that the couple that we had hoped might be the ones for the work here in Cd. Valles were already functioning within their calling at Berea. They were very much plugged-into the work at Berea, and it was obvious that God had placed them there. It was a joy to see them working and functioning within their callings. Nonetheless, it was with a little bit of sadness that we realized that this was not yet the couple that God has for us for the work at the Discipleship Center.
On Friday morning we got a call from Cd. Valles to tell us that the burning was to begin on half of our land that very day, and that the harvest on it would commence on Saturday. We headed south through rain, wondering if indeed the harvest would take place if the weather continued as it was.
On Friday night when Javier and I arrived home to Cd. Valles we made an immediate trip over to the field, hoping
Stacks of cut cane ready for loading if the field dries out enough
against all hope that the message that we had received was wrong, and that the burn had not yet taken place. We had arrived to the city to find huge puddles of water and mud everywhere indicating that the rain had obviously continued unabated here in the Cd. Valles area over the last several days.
The harvesting process for sugarcane is that the field is burned, usually the night before the harvest is to begin. When the burn takes place the clock begins to tick, and within 72 hours the crop must be taken off and be delivered to the processor or else the cane will drop in sugar content. It also begins to develop a fungus. both of these make the value of the crop diminish drastically.
We slipped and slid our way down the muddy road to the field and upon arriving found that the report was true – half of our crop, about two and a half hectares had been burned.
Our clock had begun ticking!
I am rather unclear even yet as to who made the actual decision to begin the harvest process during this inclement weather that we are having now. It seems though that it was made by the engineer from the cane processors. They, of course, are under pressure to continue receiving cane for processing. We certainly were next on the list. Apparently the decision was made on Friday morning when it was not raining and there was hope that things might continue to dry up. Nonetheless, Mexico does have weather forecasts as well, and a simple check would have indicated the probability for continued rain.
It rained continuously Friday night. Cutting began Saturday morning during a steady drizzle all day. The road into the farm is almost impassable due to mud. Entry into the field will be 100% impossible.
Today is Sunday. Tomorrow is 72 hours and D-Day.
Rows of cane piles - cane tips laying between piles ( I want to experiment to see if we can make silage from these)
The good news seems to be (as I am trying to understand the system) that since our sugarcane is contracted to the processors, and since it was their decision to initiate harvest it is also their responsibility to ensure that the crop is taken off and delivered to their plant on time. If they do not fulfill this obligation of the contract they will still have pay us for our crop (at their estimated value). That seems to be the good news (within my limited understanding). The other good news is that the actual work of harvesting is all taken care of by crews of harvesters under the direction of the processors, and none of this falls onto our shoulders. Of course, everything, down to the last of the files used for sharpening the machetes in cutting the cane is deducted from the actual payment for our sugarcane. And the cane processors are certainly not in the business of charity – we will pay for every service (or supposed service) that they provide.
The bad news though, seems to be that there are probably two options at this point for getting the cane off of the field and to a place where the trucks can get it. Depending upon the condition of the field, we may need to hire a tractor to pull each loaded truck off of the field and onto an area of the roadway where they will be able to drive. Alternately, depending upon the amount of mud and the condition of the field, all of the cane may need to be hauled on human backs to the edge of the field to where the trucks will be able to access it. We are talking literally about tons and tons of sugarcane. This would be no small feat, and I can’t even imagine how much time and effort it would take. However, apparently this is not our worry. What is our worry though is that we will need to pay for the tractor if we need it to drag the loaded trucks out of the field. This will be a financial bite that we were not expecting, and will take a piece out of the income that we were so looking forward to in order to begin paying back the debts that we have accumulated over the past year in beginning the farm.
Still, as Habakkuk 2:20 says “The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him”. We have nothing to fear. God is still on his throne in his holy temple. In my times of frustration and worry over this whole confusion of harvest – as I keep looking at the dark skies and the continuously falling rain – I keep reminding myself that this is God’s work, God’s crop, God’s harvest, and God’s Training Center that we are attempting to build. And he is the one, and he alone, who controls the weather and the rain. We have done everything that we have known to do on our part. The rest is completely up to God.
This morning it is not raining, but it continues overcast and cool. The long-range forecast is for cloudy and partly cloudy for the week with storms again on Thursday.
God is still in his holy temple. He is in control.
With our love,
Steven and Theresa Frey
