Corn grown in Western Md. helps farmers in Nicaragua

Corn grown in Frederick County is helping farmers in Nicaragua become sustainable.

That's the premise behind the Growing Project, a labor of love for eight churches in Myersville and Wolfsville, committee chairwoman Patty Hurwitz said Sunday at a celebration of the recent harvest.

The Field of Hope Growing Project is a joint effort of the Grossnickle, Welty, Myersville , Hagerstown, Harmony and Beaver Creek churches of the Brethren, the Christ Reformed United Church of Christ of Middletown and the Holy Family Catholic Community.

The premise of the project is simple, Hurwitz said, and the impact huge.

She and her husband, Jeff, bought the Grossnickle family farm on Wolfsville Road from a developer in 1995.

When the project was adopted, the couple "donated" the 55 acres of cropland for the use of the project, which benefits the Foods Resource Bank, an international organization fighting world hunger.

The local growing project seeks benefactors who will donate $250 to sponsor an acre of the farm. That's how much it costs to grow an acre of produce, counting seed, fertilizer and labor, Hurwitz said.

Donnie Grossnickle, a direct descendant of the Grossnickles who settled the land, rents the land to farm. The rent he pays, plus all the money donated by sponsors, is donated to the project, Hurwitz said.

The year, the group is sponsoring the Rio Coco communities in Nicaragua.

One of the great parts of this program, Grossnickle Church of the Brethren co-pastor Tim Ritchey Martin said, is that it "teaches people to fish, it doesn't hand out fish."

Farmers in developing countries are taught better farming practices, modern techniques, better land management, better animal husbandry and other, more sustainable practices.

Each program is short-term, with project volunteers working with a community for three or four years, the pastor said. Then, farmers are on their own to use the learned techniques and another project in another country begins anew.

The church group picks a different country to sponsor each year. Hurwitz said she expects this year's donations to put the group over $80,000 for the four years.

And while sending a country $20,000 might not sound like a lot, she said $5.60 will feed a family for a year in many developing countries.

"That money will go far in Nicaragua," she said.

On Sunday, members of the participating churches gathered for their annual Harvest Festival. Unusually cold and windy weather moved the celebration from the Wolfsville Road farm property to the Wolfsville Volunteer Fire Co. hall, but no one seemed to mind.

A highlight of the festival was a cake auction, which Hurwitz said would raise about $4,000.

Bidders spent upward of $150 to buy cakes and other goods baked by participants.

Keith Zecker paid $120 to buy the German chocolate cake his wife, Lorena, baked.

Hurwitz, a member of Grossnickle Church of the Brethren, said the project is nearly year-round for the churches. They have a kick-off Sunday in May when they begin soliciting acre sponsors. A Blessing of the Seed is held in June.

"And then, throughout the season, we watch the corn grow," she said. "It allows us to more constantly think of our brothers and sisters, far away, in need," she said. "This connecting rural farming people in Frederick County to what's going on in developing countries around the world.

"I think that's wonderful."

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