A Summary of the Farm Operation So Far

It started with a large tract of ground leased to us, Morrell Agro Industries (MAI), from the Ethiopian government.  There was nothing but brush and a few trees in January 2010. We tried to get dozers to come and clear the ground but ,after much waiting, only three showed up and two broke down immediately. It was then decided to hire two thousand local laborers to manually chop down and pile brush with nothing more than axes, machetes, and grubbing hoes.

It proved successful.  Within a month and a half they had cleared about 5,000 acres.  The piles of brush were soon burned.

and with purchased and hired local equipment we started to plow ground in preparation for planting.

We had placed an order for larger equipment that we were familiar with  from the U.S. in December, but none of it had arrived.

John Deere model 1895  44' air drill  (somewhere over the ocean)

Morrell Agro's plan is to plant a U.S. proven variety of drought tolerant hard-red wheat, which had been introduced in Ethiopia about a year ago.  The intial amount was small so  it was grown initialy by ET government owned farm for our purposes. After they cleaned and bagged the seed it was delivered to the farm.

These are 1 quintal sacks, 100 kg. (220lbs each)

Since there were no conventional type drills in Ethiopia we had to plant using a common method used by the larger farms in ET. This method is mix the seed with fertilizer and broadcast it on the ground with a fertilizer spreader, and then lightly covering it with a disk harrow.

Broadcast Spreader

Offset Disk Harrow

Covering the Seed

Normally this method is a recipe for disaster if moisture is scarce, but the soil is heavy enough, and moisture was adequate, so the crop germinated fairly well in the loose soil.

One week after planting (Wow!  Warm weather makes a difference)

In the end of our first phase of development we now have 5,000 acres of ground cleared and 3,000 acres plowed and planted into wheat.  We started planting wheat April 5 and finished April 21.

The area received a good amount of rain after planting and the condition of the crop looked good through the tillering stage of growth.

One month after planting.

We had a fair amount of brush attempting to grow again, as well as sporadic weeds. Our sprayer, that we had ordered back in December, had yet to arrive so we were forced to purchase 50 backpack sprayers and guys went to work spraying 2,4D amine by hand, which by the way is the only broadleaf chemical available in ET.

As the crop approached the heading stage it was discovered that we had an infestation of Army Worms working on the grain.

Army Worm damage

The back pack sprayers were sent out again spraying insecticide. Some areas showed some major damage but most  only had a little, for now anyway.

For the most part the crop looks good  and the harvest will likely start arround August 1.

8 weeks

Reflecting back it has been quite an effort.  To think what we started with just a short time ago it is amazing we got what we did accomplished.  It has been very much a group effort, thanks to all.  

Shelley and I are still in the U.S. awaiting ny fallout of the Ethiopian elections.  For safety reasons this keeps us out of the country. Trying to mange things from a distance has been difficult.  Wes and Alyssa have chosen to stay in ET with their children and are doing what they can to manage the farm.  We have a good Ethiopian staff on the farm as well that makes it happen.

We plan on rejoining the crew on  farm by the first or second week in July.  We have been busy planning and ordering equipment for the future.  Here are some pictures of some of the equipment we are attempting to send to ET.

John Deere 9770STS w/630  grain head

JD 9530T

I'm thinking this "Bad Boy" should leave an impression on the local people.  

I need to thank Shelley for updating the blog while I have been busy.  What an experience this has been for both of us.