Meet Sam Jesse, a seed advisor for Beck's in Southwest Wisconsin. In July 2023, Sam joined a group of missionaries who traveled to Zambia to share God's word while training the natives on farming practices that would enrich their lives. 

Meet Sam Jesse, a seed advisor for Beck's in Southwest Wisconsin. He and his wife, Maggie, live in Lodi on their family farm, raising cash crops and beef cattle.

Earlier this year, Area Team Leader Ben Puestow emailed me about a mission trip Sam would take at the end of July. When I asked him what the purpose was, Ben mentioned that the missionaries would focus on sharing God's word while training the natives of Zambia on farming practices that would enrich their lives. Given the season upon us, one of giving and gratitude, it only felt right to share Sam's moving story with you all.

Tell me about Overland Missions and how you became involved with the organization.

“At Overland Missions, the saying is “To the ends of the Earth,” meaning no place is too far to travel or hard to get to when seeking to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Overland operates on four continents and teaches the word of God and discipling believers in the most remote parts of the world. I first became aware of Overland when many of my college friends began joining their staff as full-time missionaries around the world. My friend Zach and his wife Caitlyn contacted me last winter about joining them for an expedition using farming as a way to present the Gospel, the first of its kind for Overland Missions!”

When did you know this was a trip you were called to take?

A mission trip with an agricultural focus is something I have prayed about for a long time, but when Zach and Caitlyn first asked me to go, I told them no. It wasn’t easy for me to say yes to the Lord, but even when we are unfaithful, He is faithful. I was scared and unsure if those around me would be supportive, but thankfully, He was working the whole time.

My wife Maggie encouraged me to go, saying that surely, it’s what Jesus would want me to do. I then went to my dad for advice, thinking he would say no because surely our farm would fall to pieces if I was gone for two weeks. But he responded in a way that only a father can and told me I had to go. Finally, I asked my Area Team Leader, Ben Puestow. I knew he could tell me no and keep me from countless hours of travel in an unfamiliar country. But praise God, who was working the whole time through the believers he placed in my life. Not only did Ben tell me to go, but he also told me he wished he could go and encouraged me to share my journey so more people could hear what God is doing around the world.

Can you tell me more about your mission experience?

 took our group to the Southern Providence of Zambia. Getting there took four flights (27 hours of airtime, 16 hours of layover, and a four-hour car ride). My group included seven short-term American missionaries, eight full-time missionaries, and six translators. We stayed in “the bush,” where the locals are hours away from stores and hospitals, don’t have electricity, are typically uneducated, and live in small brick huts.

One of our campsites in the bush. Most meals were made over the fire.


Here, we presented the Farming God’s Way curriculum, teaching local farmers that God has given them everything they need and that they do not need to depend on anyone but Him. For example, the manure from the livestock, the termite mounds, and wood ash can sufficiently supply their crops with all the nutrition they need each year, a practice that virtually no farmers in their area use. This was just one of the six Biblical keys to farming that we taught, each one demonstrating that God desires to see his creation prosper when it relies on him. In addition to these conferences, we shared the Gospel around the fire at night, drawing in crowds of over 100 people from several neighboring villages. We also conducted children’s ministry at a nearby school and went from house to house, praying with people and sharing the Good News of Jesus.

Not only did you help spread the word of God, but you also helped the natives discover new ways to improve their farming practices and increase yields. How did your experience at Beck’s align with the mission of this organization?

From Platteville, Wisconsin, to the bush in Zambia, farmers are hard-working and passionate about their work. My goal on this trip was the same as it is every day at work: to “Help Farmers Succeed.” Just like the farmers here in the US, the farmers in Zambia desire to learn and improve their operations. In many ways, my education in agronomy, my career at Beck’s, and my involvement in my local church helped prepare me for this trip and made me an effective communicator! Discussing topics like the value of topsoil, water holding capacity, and no-till are hot topics in Zambia just as they are here, so conversations were comparable to here; I just needed a translator!

Tell me a little about the farming practices in the area you visited and the advice you provided to help them farm better.

There is no commercial-scale agriculture in the area of Zambia I served. Farmers work on areas of land, usually 10-20 acres each, using a plow pulled by an ox or donkey and a handheld tool known as a Jomba. Yields vary from 5-10 Bu./A. with traditional farming practices. Most farmers need about 15 Bu/A. to supply their family’s needs. Farming can only be done during the rainy summer season. During the dry winter season, it simply doesn’t rain, so growing acres of crops isn’t an option. Field soils are also extremely low in fertility and can typically only be farmed for five to six years before they are completely depleted and abandoned.

Farmers gathered for one of our workshops. This tree is at the center of 16 villages.

A few of the farming techniques we taught were:

No plowing. God stands for permanence; He is eternal, after all. Rather than depleting our soils over time with plowing, let’s stop plowing and create something permanent! Because fields sit barren for half the year in Zambia, they are prone to wind and rain erosion. Additionally, water can penetrate the soil and remain in the soil bank because we have created a better soil structure by not disturbing the topsoil.

God’s Blanket (cover crops) are dead grasses gathered from the bush and used to cover the soil to prevent wind and erosion. While cover crops in the US are terminated with herbicide, in Zambia, we spread dead grasses across the field that don’t need to be terminated. God’s Blanket allows water to be absorbed into the soil rather than run off, weeds no longer become an issue as the blanket smothers them, and the grasses and crop residue break down to get the soil biology working again.

God has already given you everything you need. Instead of buying commercial fertilizer, farmers can use the manure from their animals and ant hill soils as their fertilizer source. Wood ash can also act as their lime source to correct their soil’s pH.

Nate, the leader of Overlands “Sustain Mission” and Farming Gods Way teacher and translator Shalom, demonstrates how soil cover and no-till affect water infiltration and soil erosion. This is almost the exact same demonstration you can see at the Beck’s Field Shows in our cover crop tent.

Our goal was never to teach people how to farm the American way, only to demonstrate how God has already given them the tools to prosper and show them what those tools are. These are just three of the six keys we taught during our two-day workshops. Locally, we have plots in Zambia that have been using these practices for four to six years and have seen once-abandoned soils consistently yielding 90 Bu./A. with all the techniques taught.

Corn from Overland Missions Farming God’s Way plot at their Bahtoka Base. Corn on the left: Grown Farming God’s Way after 3 years with 0$ spent on inputs. Yield 73 Bu./A. Corn on Right: Grown using conventional Zambian farming techniques, approx. $50/acre yield 9 Bu./A.

What was the most memorable moment from your trip?


During our house-to-house ministry, where we prayed with people and invited them to hear the Gospel, we met with an elderly couple. The man and woman were nearly 90 years old, both blind and living with some of their grandchildren out in the bush. We introduced ourselves and asked if they had ever heard of Jesus. The man responded in English, “I have heard, in 1962. My wife heard in 1960.” Through our translator, he began to tell us his testimony and only wanted to hear us read scripture since he could no longer read. We encouraged him with some Psalms, and I was reminded of Revelation 21, where God promises to rid us of our pain and wipe away every tear. Give us new heavenly bodies, and we will walk with God once again. I was brought to tears, thinking of rejoicing with this couple in heaven, their new bodies with no pain and suffering. That was a moment I will never forget.

What experience made you feel the most connected to the Lord?

My motto throughout the trip was that, despite all of the travel, sleepless nights, and time away from home, it would be worth it 

if just one person prayed to receive the Good News

 and was saved from Hell into eternal life with God. The good news of the Gospel is this: Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and was raised again so that we could have a relationship with him both here and in eternity (John 3:16). After a morning devotional about this exact topic, we sat down for lunch in the tall grass under some trees. 

The closest house was at least a 15-minute walk away. We were surprised when a boy walked up to us. Unsure where he came from, we invited him to sit down and asked what he needed. His response was simple: without our prompting, he responded, “I want to hear how Jesus can save me.” In this moment, I was reminded that this trip wasn’t about what I was doing; it was about what God was already doing and my duty to be faithful to him. We shared the Gospel with the young man named O’Saint, who prayed to receive Christ. Nowhere is too far to travel for even one to hear the Gospel that O’Saint received that day.

Terry (Left), our translator, walks O’Saint (Right) through a prayer to receive Christ.

Would you partake in another Overland Mission trip?

Absolutely! I encourage others to do the same. It was never easy, but Jesus never tells us it will be easy, only that it will be worth it.

I want to thank Scott, Sonny, and the rest of the Beck family for creating a company and a culture where sharing stories like this is possible. I never feared telling dealers or co-workers what I was going on this trip, and countless co-workers asked to pray for me. It is truly a blessing to me that a place like Beck’s exists.