Young Guys Beat The Old Guards In Agri-Chem Business

WHEN OUR ADVERTISING account executive at Agriculture Magazine, suggested that we interview the founder of a very successful company that distributes crop protection chemicals and plant nutrition products in Isabela, we readily accepted the suggestion. After all, we love to write about success stories related to farming.

Best Friends From Australia Came Back To The Philippines To Farm For The People

OVERSEAS WORKERS and best friends Jessie Salazar and Josie Ramos, returned to the Philippines after living in Australia for almost half of their lives to help people in poor communities. This led them to establish a social enterprise that mainly profits from growing mushrooms called Best Life Is Serving Society Farm, or simply, Bliss Farm.

The Large Black Pig Is Here! Perfect for Free Range

AN ANCIENT HOG BREED from old England which was introduced in the Philippines less than two years ago, perhaps for the first time, promises to be a perfect animal for raising as free-range animal. And this could be the right breed to meet the need of health-conscious consumers who are looking for naturally farmed pork.

IPB VAR 6 White Corn Good For Dieters, Diabetics

IF YOU ARE A DIABETIC, or you are overweight and dieting, why not consider eating white corn, especially IPB Var 6, the variety that the Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB) in Los Baños has been disseminating to farmers?

Lowering Pond Water Temperature With Water Lettuce

ONE OF THE NEGATIVE IMPACTS of climate change on aquaculture in our country is the high temperature of water in fishponds, especially during the dry season months of April to May. In freshwater ponds that are shallow (less than 1 meter) and without any supplemental water supply from irrigation or pumps, “fish kills” can occur when the water temperature exceeds 32 degrees Celsius.

Int'l Agri Research Agency Honors Former Agri Chief

THE INTERNATIONAL Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Patancheru, India, recently honored former agriculture Secretary William D. Dar—who served as its Director General from 2000 to 2014—by naming a new building after him.

Service Providers Crucial To Farm Mechanization

HOW CAN RICE FARMERS lower their cost of production to the target of R5 to R7 per kilo of palay? That would make local farmers at par with the farmers of exporting countries like Thailand and Vietnam, which sell their rice to the Philippines.

Dost, Landbank Seal Partnership for Onestore.PH

THE DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (DOST) formally sealed its partnership with LandBank for the oneSTore.ph Project with the recent signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between the two entities at the LandBank Plaza in Manila.

Better-tasting Chocolate Drink With Improved Tablea Processing Technology

TABLEA, or chocolate liquor, in a bar can be a thick disc, flat, or square in form used to make a hot chocolate beverage. It is made from local cacao beans using fermentation and roasting processes that have been improved and standardized to give the best quality chocolate beverage.

Grafted Ampalaya Gives 37 Harvests Vs. 15-18 Of Ungrafted

THE TALK of the town among vegetable growers today is grafted ampalaya. Why? Last year, EastWest Seed’s new Farm Ready grafted ampalaya seedlings were released to selected farmers for field trial. The farmers included those from Central Luzon and Calabarzon area. One of those who bought grafted seedlings was Doming Castro of Floridablanca, Pampanga, according to Ric Reyes, East-West Seed’s Marketing and Strategy consultant.

Bayer's Dual Trait Arize Az 8433 Dt Hybrid Rice Combats Insect Pests As Well As Diseases

The Future of Rice Farming: Arize AZ 8433 DT combats harmful pests and bacterial disease Arize AZ 8433 DT: Innovative Dual Trait hybrid rice variety combats BPH and BLB

Eggplant Resistant To Insect Pests Being Developed

A PROJECT funded and monitored by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD) will develop improved eggplant varieties with increased resistance against insect pests, specifically eggplant fruit and shoot borer (EFSB) and leafhopper.

WV Farmers Urged To Report Crop Pest Incidents Immediately

ILOILO CITY – Farmers shall immediately report any cases of pest and diseases incidents in their areas to curb damage on crops especially rice, said Ryan Rasgo, chief of the Regional Crop Protection Center (RCPC) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) Western Visayas.

Hot Chili Aficionados Form A Formidable Group

SEVEN GROUPS which are involved in one way or another in hot chilies have now formed a formidable front under the umbrella of what Ponchit Ponce Enrile started in 2014 - ChiliHeads Philippines which staged with much fanfare the first Chili Festival that year. They have formed a federation.

Regenerative Farming: The Secret Is In The Soil

WE HAVE LOST 80 billion tons of carbon from our soils. This lost carbon is now hovering over our atmosphere and warming the planet. That may be why it barely rained in November, and why it feels like summer in February.

3 Big Companies Merged To Form Agriscience Firm

THREE AGRICULTURAL DIVISIONS of two multinational companies have been combined to form a standalone agricultural company known as Corteva Agriscience. The new company is envisioned to maintain leading positions in seed technologies, crop protection and digital agriculture.

Grapes Also Grow Well In Nueva ECIJA

CULTIVATION OF GRAPES has been steadily increasing in the country during past several years.

He Introduced Poultry Wire Cages In The Philippines (Memoirs Of An Agri Journalist)

NOT MANY PEOPLE may realize it, but wire cages for chicken layers are a very important contribution to the improvement of commercial poultry production in the Philippines. And the fellow responsible for that is a Caviteño by the name of Jose P. Abellar. He is a familiar face during the annual Agrilink trade show in October where he showcases his poultry equipment.

The Fisheries Of Tonle Sap, Cambodia

THE TONLE SAP (“Great Lake”) is the biggest and most productive lake in Southeast Asia located in Cambodia. The lake has an area of 250,000 hectares, depth of 1-10 meters and surface elevation of 0.5 meter. It is connected to the Mekong River through the 120-kilometer long Tonle Sap River. In the dry season, the lake serves as a reservoir of the Mekong River (traversing Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam) with the backflow of the Tonle Sap River; during the wet season, however, it regulates the floodwater downstream.

Small Farmer Increases Yield By 300%

WITH SHEER DETERMINATION to augment his income for his family and a knack for adapting available technologies, a small farmer in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija was able to increase his harvest by about 300 percent.

Advocate Of Pesticide-Free Agriculture

IT IS ALWAYS educational and rewarding to talk to people who have hands-on experience in good agricultural practices. Just like Michael Batayola of Bantayan Island in Cebu, who has been growing food crops that don’t have to be sprayed with chemical pesticides.

Golden Rice Meets Food Safety Standards In Three Global Leading Regulatory Agencies

LOS BAÑOS, PHILIPPINES – GR2E Golden Rice, a provitamin-A biofortified rice variety, completed its third positive food safety evaluation, this time with the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA). In an official response received by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) on 24 May (EST), the US FDA concurred with IRRI’s assessment regarding the safety and nutrition of Golden Rice.

Saving The Last Cyprinid In Lake Lanao

HOW WE LOST MOST OF THE ENDEMIC FISHES IN LAKE LANAO AND WHAT WE CAN DO TO SAVE THE REMAINING ONE

Smart Strategy In Rabbits As Agribusiness

IN FARMING, as in any other business, there are those who succeed as well as those who fail. And those who always triumph are those who have studied their projects and adopted the right strategies.

Ashitaba Powder Has Many Uses

MORE AND MORE USES are being developed from the Ashitaba, botanically known as Angelica keiski, which is reputed to possess various elements that are beneficial to human health.

Science And Technology To Boost Philippine Mango Industry

WITH OVER 2.5 million farmers in it, the mango industry in the country is considered one of the backbone industries of the local agriculture sector.

Organic Fertilizers Can Boost Productivity Of Ratooned Eggplant

A GRADUATING agriculture student discovered that ratooning can make mature eggplants (Solanum melongena L.) productive again.

Effective Vannamei Culture Practices

GROWTH RETARDATION and heavy mortality due to diseases has always been a major problem in shrimp aquaculture, both in the Philippines and in all other shrimp producing countries.

Cover Dull Spots With A Carpet Of Flowers

THERE ARE DULL or vacant spaces in a garden where mowing the grass can be difficult or even impossible due to the angle of the terrain—just like at the Runnex Elevated Garden of the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City

Biogas Sludge Can Substitute For Part Of Commercial Feeds For Hogs

RESEARCH SHOWS that as much as 30 percent of the biogas sludge produced from a biogas digester can substitute for commercially produced hog feeds without significant differences in the growth and development of hogs and their carcass yield.