Agriculture Business Week

We were just talking a few minutes ago over lunch with a lady who consulted us on how to go about developing her dream farm a year ago. She is a daughter of a former mayor who left behind several hectares of upland farms that have not been made productive for so many years. In one farm, a 7-hectare property that was willed to her, there’s a caretaker who has been doing nothing productive except to harvest the nuts of the few coconut trees that have been planted many years ago.

The lady is a highly educated professional who until lately was doing a lucrative consultancy work in Europe, China and elsewhere. Apparently, she has accumulated a sizeable nest egg, and probably felt that in this life there are more important things than just making money. She gave up her consulting job so she could develop her dream farm and in the process contribute her share in developing the community.

When we first met, we suggested that she consider growing high-value vegetables. Which she liked very much for a number of good reasons. Vegetables have a short gestation period and they could be grown year-round with the use of the latest technologies.

We suggested to her then that she visit as many vegetable farms as possible. And more important, she should attend trainings in vegetable culture. Which she did, not just once but twice. She attended the training course of Harbest Agribusiness in Cavite, and then the off-season course in vegetable production by East-West Seed.
At our lunch meeting, she was excited about her project. She showed us her first harvest of beautiful tomatoes, her bamboo propagation project (11,000 propagules so far), and the beautiful farm house she is building. She has also bought a tractor to mechanize her land preparation.

She is very proud of her eight farm workers who work eight hours a day, just like they were working in an office. An on-farm training was conducted right in her farm with an invited trainor. She has already invested a big sum but she is confident that it will be recovered in no time.

Some meaningful friends have advised her not to go into farming, suggesting instead that she invest her money in some other financial schemes. But she would not listen. She was determined to make her inherited farm productive. She considers it a crime not to make the property useful. Her philosophy now is to plant and plant and plant some more.

By Zac B. Sarian