The village of Lalliana near Raman Mandi had been famous in the region for growing capsicum. Each year over 300 acres of the crop was traditionally grown in the village. However, virulent strains of leaf curl virus together with soil borne fungal pathogens like Rhizoctonia, Fusarium and Phytophthora had decimated the crop and farmers had been forced to grow cereals which at least offered some returns. By the year 2010, the area under capsicum had declined to a mere 35 acres.

Didar Singh a progressive and educated farmer from village 5 -O near Lakhian in Sri Karanpur Tehsil of Sriganganagar district was desperate. His 5 bighas (3.125 acres) of kinnows was in steep decline, his income had shrunk from Rs 2.7 lacs ($4,500) in 2012 to just Rs 1.30 lacs ($2,170) in 2013.

The years of successful field development demonstarting the many benefits of our STEP System finally aroused the attention of India's leading newspaper the Times of India (TOI), the country's and the world's largest circulating English Daily. In 2015, when farmers in Punjab were driven to desperation by the whitefly menace on cotton and kinnow farmers were on the verge of uprooting their beloved trees, Sequoia reached out, providing solace and hope. This was frontpaged by TOI in two articles.