MANILA, Philippines — Ochie San Juan may have seen it all: the rise and fall of farming techniques in the country. For three decades, farming has been his heart and soul.
Today, he is giving back to the agriculture sector something it used to embrace: regeneration.
Regenerative agriculture “strives to work with nature rather than against it,” according to the US-based Noble Research Institute.
It works by undertaking management practices that aim to restore degraded soils based on ecological principles.
As an advocate for family farm school systems, San Juan promotes the adoption of regenerative agriculture or natural farming to combat the ill effects of climate change and improve the welfare of fellow Filipino food producers.
“It is a big task to encourage our youth and most especially our traditional farmers to embrace natural farming or regenerative agriculture,” San Juan, co-founder and chief farmer of Mayani Philippines, a homegrown agriculture technology firm, told The STAR.
The practice of regenerative agriculture is seen to be one of the key measures to restore the degrading soil health in San Juan’s native province of Batangas, where farmlands have become acidic due to monocropping or intensive use of chemical products.
The Noble Research Institute describes regenerative agriculture as more of a necessary “mindset” than a specific farming practice.
“To be successful, regenerative agriculture must be adopted and management practices adapted in ways that fit each unique operation and piece of land,” it said.
A way forward
Regenerative agriculture is seen to tackle the “root causes” of multitude of problems of farmers today from soil health degradation to low farm productivity, said Marie Annette Dacul, executive director of University of Asia and the Pacific’s Center for Food and Agri Business.
The farming practice does not only address costly planting inputs and materials but also increasing farms’ resilience against climate change, Dacul added.
“It is essential and vital in transforming Philippine agriculture,” Dacul told The STAR.
Some of the practices under regenerative agriculture are intercropping, crop cover, composting and agroforestry. These methods are already practiced to a certain extent by farmers and are also incorporated in some government programs and projects.
However, challenges in fully embracing regenerative agriculture remain. Some of these include the lack of awareness by farmers, the absence of a supporting policy environment and the need for collaboration, Dacul said.
San Juan said initially, no one in their group of 38 members in Lian, Batangas believed that regenerative agriculture could work. Today, at least 25 percent of farmers in their province are embracing it.
Some of the practices being done by San Juan and his colleagues involve the use of natural concoctions of fermented plant juices or fermented fruit juices to serve as natural plant growth supplements.
Fish scales are now used as fertilizers. No tillage is done during land preparation of farms. Cover crops and rotations are done. Intercropping is practiced like avocado trees with ginger plants.
“Sometimes my wife tells me that the farm looks so messy and dirty. But those dry leaves, after a month, become part of the compost and provide good microbes,” San Juan said.
The adoption of regenerative agriculture has reduced farming costs for San Juan as he propagates his own seeds and produces his own planting inputs. More so, his income has risen by at least 30 percent.
“It is really a to-see-is-to-believe kind of thing, most especially in convincing other farmers to transition to it,” he said, noting that farmers’ traditional practices and farming behaviors are the challenges to overcome in promoting regenerative agriculture.
And that is also the key in enticing the youth into agriculture: showing that it is profitable through the proper ways, San Juan said.
A shared responsibility
Dacul pointed out that the idea of regenerative agriculture must be adopted not only by farmers but by consumers too. If consumers demand produce that is grown in a healthier farming system, then farmers will be encouraged or motivated to do so.
A program or project head can be appointed by the government to oversee the policy direction for the promotion of regenerative agriculture, Dacul said.
“We need multiple schools of thought in farming to address the several issues of the agriculture sector,” she said.
“Why will we hinder anything that can sustain and transform the productivity of the sector, boost farmers’ income and address issues caused by climate change?” she added.
Another prominent advocate of regenerative agriculture is Nestlé. Under its Nescafe, the multinational food giant seeks to improve local farmers’ coffee yield and resilience against climate change through regenerative agriculture.
Nestlé is investing one billion Swiss francs for its plan by 2030 with the goal of sourcing half of its coffee from farms implementing regenerative agriculture practices.
“Action is urgently needed to help farmers future-proof their farms and ensure adequate food for coming generations,” Nestlé said.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) is cognizant of the need for the country’s farming sector to adopt sustainable practices to hurdle production challenges caused by climate change, population growth and shrinking farmlands.
““These challenges are not distant threats. They are here now, testing the resilience of our food systems and urging us to act with urgency and vision — one more creative and adaptive than ever before,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said.
Tiu Laurel emphasized that transforming the agriculture sector is “no longer optional, but essential.” Central to this shift, the DA noted, is the promotion of precision and regenerative agriculture.
These two methods can help farmers use fewer resources while increasing their output and minimizing losses, thus, improving their welfare, according to the DA.
“From typhoons that devastate harvests to droughts that parch fields to unpredictable seasons that unsettle even the most experienced growers… these phenomena are occurring more frequently,” Tiu Laurel said.
“That is a clear warning that our agricultural practices must change as well,” he added.
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