We had a lot to learn before our first shipment in 2016, but in the end, it was a huge success. We learned how to pilot our shipment through customs, tilled 43 acres of land, coordinated the logistics of scheduling tillage and travelling between fields, and discovered which types of tillage work best on different soils. Our tractor is in great shape after the first year, and will be ready for the new season starting next May.
Speaking of next May, we plan to have another tractor on the ground before tillage starts in early June! Our incredibly generous donors have already contributed enough to purchase another tractor and set of equipment. Last year, our shippers told us that it would take 30 days for the tractor to arrive, so we sent it on April 11th. In reality, it took 75 days to arrive, finally showing up on June 25th. This meant that we missed over half of the tillage season. To preclude the possibility of this happening again, we plan to send out tractor before March 1st.
Additionally, Maurice has undertaken the responsibility of filing our official paperwork to obtain 501(c)(3) status. We expect to be approved by early 2017, which will be a big boost to our fundraising efforts and access to opportunities.
Lastly, the results of our tillage experiment will be in sometime next week, and if the pictures are any indication, the numbers should be encouraging. I have posted a couple of recent pictures below. I will provide more details in my next post.
The sorghum in the picture above was planted in a plot tilled with manual hoeing.
This sorghum was planted on the same day in a plot tilled with the tractor-drawn plow.
