My Twin Magnificent Obsessions – (2) Automatic Organic Rotavator As My Technological Contribution To Regenerative Agriculture

Should not Filipino farmers learn from India, where the rotavator is now the most used implement for farming? ANN says (Author Not Named, 16 Aug 2023, “Why Rotavator Is The Most Used Implement For Farming In India?” Tractor Karvan, tractorkarvan.com). And so we go to India and read “Why Some Inferior Technologies Succeed? Examining The Diffusion And Impacts Of Rotavator Tillage In Nepal Terai” authored by G Paudel, V Krishna, A McDonald & Vijesh Vijaya Krishna (Ideas, ideas.repec.org). 
(“Rotavator” from knowledgebank.irri.org), “Mulch” from dreamstime.com)

G Paudel et al say:

Rotavator is a tractor-operated cultivating implement for shallow tillage, which operates by pulverizing soil with the help of rotating L or J -shaped blades. Rotavator tillage has been spreading rapidly in many parts of South Asia, despite having a large body of evidence on its negative consequences on soil quality and crop yield from the experimental research trials.

Ah! I Filipino agriculturist – BSA major in Ag Edu 1965, UP Los Baños; 2001-2008 Editor In Chief of the Philippine Journal of Crop Science (PJCS) – I believe G Paudel et al when they say that on rotavator tillage, the evidence is that it has “negative consequences on soil quality and crop yield.”

More than 5 years ago, 26 March 2018, I wrote “Organic Farming & The Lesson Of The Rotavator: How To Feed The World” (Organic Country, blogspot.com), where I quote Tania Lewis & Emily Potter describing Edward Faulkner’s concept thus (books.google.com.ph):

Faulkner's conception of trash farming saw soil as a living system of capillaries. When conventional plows are used, the soil mass is violently broken apart, disrupting the capillary connections through which water seeps. Faulkner's answer was taken from Asian farming practices. Eschewing the plough, he recommended disc-rotoring the crop residue, or trash, into the soil. The result was a "trashy" surface soil scattered with debris and "teeming with organic matter" (Beeman 1992: 96).

Today, when farmers in India, the Philippines and US of A operate the rotavator, they fail to create a trashy surface and instead destroy the structure of the soil and not enrich it!

If operated like I know how, the rotavator creates that trash mulch over the soil surface automatically. That is why I am writing this to attract any investor – I’m looking at the PH hybrid rice companies – for us to reinvent the rotavator so that it cuts the soil and produce the trash mulch (soil & weeds cut & mixed) automatically and spread that material all over the field automatically! The automatic “Organic Rotavator” I call it.

I am thinking of some PhP2 million to produce that reinvented rotavator, with techno demos done in Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. I’m calling on Bayer AG, LongPing, Pioneer Hybrid, SL Agritech and Syngenta, any or all of them coming together, to support the project I now call “Automatic Organic Rotavator” where even a novice farmer or non-farmer can operate the machine and still automatically produce a trash mulch all over and immediately begin to fertilize the whole field! Any takers?@517

My Twin Magnificent Obsessions – (1) The Learning Cloud (TLC). Yes, The Learning First!

I am an alumnus of UP Los Baños (BSA major in Ag Edu, 1965) – I have been exploring the Internet since 1990, ie 33 years, and so I know people don’t look at the Digital World as a classroom. The method of teaching in the Internet is? Mostly Spoon Feeding – Some teachers never learn!

In any digital library – “Knowledge Bank” – you are (silently) told: “This is it. This is what you don’t know!” The instructor is treating you as simply a student who wants to graduate from that class of “Don’t Know At All” and pushing you into the class of “Know It All”!

No, nobody among the creators of webpages assumes that you want to learn – they just assume that you want to be told.

Logged on, typing “Rice Knowledge Bank” brings me to knowledgebank.irri.org. The top image is from here – it is the very first image that greets me. Note that it says: “Learn about best practices in rice farming” – below, Pre-planting.” “Growth.” “Postproduction.”

In other words, as in any Knowledge Bank, IRRI’s Rice Knowledge Bank tells you in no uncertain terms what to know and what to do – no questions asked.

The Knowledge Bank is a learned instructor talking to his/her students what to think and what to do without being asked priorly “Who?” or “What?” or “Where?” or “When?” or “Why?” The Knowledge Bank assumes that you are interested only in the unasked question, “How?”

The Learning Cloud

Hereby, I am offering an entirely different version of the Knowledge Bank, that which assumes that you know what you want to ask and are looking for answers yourself.

There is no such creature yet in the entire Internet universe. Here is a relevant background story – In 2014, I blogged “Science With A Human Face, 3: EXPLOREit, KSIConnect & Farmers' Library” (26 Aug 2014, Creative Thinkering, blogspot.com) where I said:

… I worked with the virtual Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture (OpAPA), an ICRISAT-inspired multi-agency project based at PhilRice in 2004; during that time, I wrote & finished a concept book for an information bank, The Geography Of Rice (unpublished) of 198 pages (8.5" x 11" trim size), about how to render OpAPA farmer-friendly.

Nothing happened to my book, and OpAPA went thataway. That information bank book I have since revised and retitled as “The Geography Of Knowledge” (TGoK).

My intellectual in(ter)vention, “The Learning Cloud” (TLC) is TGoK resuscitated.

The TLC – Tender Loving Counselor, will lead you on. For instance:

You type “rice” (cap or lowercase, with/without the quotation marks), press Enter, and TLC will show you simultaneously different images of varieties and suggested planting techniques. No such thing as you are immediately shown “best practices in rice farming”!

“The Learning Cloud“ And “The Knowledge Bank“ Compared

Note: It’s “Learning” versus “Knowledge” –

In TLC, you are guided;
in TKB, you are simply told, directed.

In TLC, you essentially teach yourself;
In RKB, you are simply instructed.

In TLC, you are both the learner and the teacher yourself.
In TKB, you are ignorant!@517

Healthier & Happier As A Farmer Than A Soldier – Retired Special Forces Mhar H Baclay Of New Clarin, Davao Del Sur Is Still A Hero!

Why should farmers be considered heroes? “If there are no farmers, we don’t have food to eat,” former member of PH Special Forces Mhar H Baclay says, as quoted by Henrylito D Tacio (20 Oct 2023, “A Hero Of Sorts: Retired Army Serves The Community Through Farming,” Manila Bulletin Agriculture, mb.com.ph).

Mr Baclay says, “It’s not only being a member of the military that we can serve our fellow man but also in providing food for their tables. That is what we, farmers, are doing.”

A resident of Sitio Sto. Niño of barangay New Clarin, Bansalan, Davao del Sur, Mr Baclay “is now concentrating on farming.” He is at the same time serving as the Treasurer of the farmers’ “New Clarin Irrigators’ Association” (NCIA).

He is now 44 years old; 5 years ago, Mr Baclay decided to retire from soldiering and become a farmer. Mr Tacio says, “In fact, Mhar started farming when he was only 10 years old. So, it’s not surprising that he is now a farmer just like his father.”

He plants rice in about 6.5 ha, grows coconut in 2 ha, with banana as intercrop. He is also raising ducks and goats. Actually, Mr Tacio says, “He owns only one hectare and the rest are only mortgaged to him.”

Now then, I note that Mr Baclay is growing several crops. I go back to him being a member of the New Clarin farmers’ group NCIA – the association is a big help to the farmers as they can rent some machines for planting and harvesting. This is technology in the service of farmers made readily available and practical by the NCIA – you don’t have to own the machine to be able to use it. Happy for them.
(“Belonging” from verywellmind.com)

But I am unhappy to note that Mr Baclay happily applies commercial or chemical fertilizer for his rice. Mr Tacio says:

He spends about 50% of the total expenses in fertilizer alone. He applies commercial fertilizer (9 bags per hectare) three times per cropping. [He says,] “Fertilizer is really important when it comes to growing rice.”

Ah, Mr Baclay, how about convincing your farmers’ association NCIA to purchase and/or manufacture organic fertilizer?! Organic fertilizer is really important in the growing of rice – and as a result, in the harvesting of healthy grains that nourish human bodies with natural vitamins and minerals!

Actually, the good that an organic fertilizer does begins with the soil – when you apply it, the soil regains its natural health and fertility; in such a case, the crops that grow on it produce healthy foods that consumers would most welcome!

Noted: Mr Tacio says you are aware of organic fertilization. You told him, ““We don’t burn rice straw. We just [leave] them in the field and [they become] organic fertilizer.”

Mr Baclay, you can be of more organic help by convincing your association to learn more about how to grow crops by way of organic farming!@517

PH Agriculture – We Have To Upscale The Small Farms, We Have To Upskill The Small Farmers!

“Small is beautiful” is one of my favorite quotes since I came across EF Schumacher’s book “Small Is Beautiful (Economics As If People Mattered)” published by Blond & Briggs, 1973. Here comes my favorite PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar sort of reminding me: “When Small Is Not Beautiful” (Manila Times column of 19 Oct 2023, manilatimes.net) – and reading him, I couldn’t agree more! 
(“Small” from environmentandsociety.org)

Mr Dar’s topic is the harsh economic life of Filipino farmers. He says in his opening paragraph:

… In today’s globalized environment where food producers face daunting challenges from climate change, geopolitical tensions, and increased competition, staying small is no longer an option.

Yes Sir! Agricultural economics is where farmers matter Big – but they cannot remain Small.

In Philippine agriculture, we have witnessed how many small food producers remain poor or impoverished because they only have one or less than a hectare of land to cultivate.

Small is not beautiful when it comes to farming because economics matters. Poor economics ensures that poor farmers remain poor.

… Since many or even millions of aging farmers fail to become prosperous, their sons and daughters in most cases seek professions or vocations outside of agriculture.

Thus, in the rural areas, the actual practice of economics fails to prove the adage: “Life father, like son. Like mother, like daughter.”

It was during my watch at the Department of Agriculture that the clustering of farmers and the consolidation of their lands were initiated to attain economies of scale in food production. This initiative also resulted in more and more private companies partnering with clustered farmers for their raw materials needs under the “big brother-small brother” partnership that is mutually beneficial.

Thus, when Mr Dar was Secretary of Agriculture, he started clustering the small farms so that their consolidation can “attain economies of scale in food production.” Additionally, private companies were attracted to partner with clustered farmers for their mutual benefit.

In music, German genius composer Felix Mendelssohn says, “The essence of the beautiful is unity in diversity.” Beautiful! Small farms must be united.
(“Essence” from passiton.com)

“Unity in variety” is “a principle that aesthetic value or beauty in art depends on the fusion of various elements into an organic whole which produces a single impression” (Merriam-Webster, merriam-webster.com).

Different small farmers with their variety of farm produce must be united to make Agriculture Beautiful!

Mr Dar says:

A study titled “Private Investment In Agri-Food Sector: Constraints And Challenges” by Ramon Yedra undertaken for the Department of Agriculture-Agribusiness and Market Service in 2021 identified small land holdings as the “most common cited limitation” to scale up agriculture and agribusiness.

The Yedra study was on banana, coconut, purple yam and dragon fruit commodity-industries and on large agribusiness investors.

To distribute the benefits of agriculture socially, unity in diversity: We must upscale the small farms; at the same time, we must upskill the small farmers.

Aha! We need a working Secretary of Agriculture who knows what he must do, and does it!@517

Looks Like Germany Via Bayer AG Is Helping The USA Propagate Regenerative Agriculture Despite IRRI’s Eerie Silence!

 

The 6^th International Rice Congress (IRC 2023) was held in Manila, Philippines 13-16 Oct 2023 – did you read or hear about it? Probably not! I did not see any of the newspapers in Manila talking about it in digital media. I will attribute that to what I shall refer to here as the “Silence of the Lambs of Media,” a failure of the IRC2023 info people to propagate this important international event!

Too much science? From the looks of it, the IRC 2023 info people failed to “scale down” the science to the level of PH journalists.

IRRI.org has a dedicated webpage for it: IRC 2023, which reported on it: “6^th International Rice Congress 2023” with the beautiful theme “Accelerating Transformation Of Rice-Based Food Systems: From Gene To Globe.”

The Congress was held mid-Oct, but there was zero progress report on IRC 2023! Today, Wednesday, 25 Oct 2023, it’s 7 days after, but there is still no summary report for the media.

Yes, I believe that the explanation is: “Too much science.” Read the theme again: “Accelerating Transformation of Rice-Based Food Systems: From Gene to Globe.”

The IRC 2023 people would have been talking directly to the people if the theme was something like this: “Accelerating Transformation of Rice-Based Food Systems: Solving Farmer Poverty And Resolving Climate Change.”

Ah, but there was one saving grace in the IRC 2023: The intellectual challenge coming from Bayer AG: “A Revolution In Rice Production: Bayer Advocates For Regenerative Agriculture Practices Like Direct Seeding Of Rice.” The unnamed presentor I shall refer to as “Mr Bayer.”
(“Seeder” from slideshare.net, “Silence” from fontsinuse.com)

Mr Bayer says Michael Graham, head of Bayer’s Crop Science Research and Development Breeding Division, said in his keynote speech on the first day of IRC 2023:

We are at a pivotal moment in time. Rice consumption is increasing across Asia and Africa, while climate change and resource scarcity are putting pressure on our capability to produce enough rice. A revolution in rice production is needed, one based on regenerative agriculture.

I repeat with enthusiasm Bayer AG’s message to the world: “A revolution in rice production is needed, one based on regenerative agriculture.”

Bayer AG is “selling” the DSR technology package that is part of RA. And no, the international IRRI is not into DSR; neither is the local PhilRice, I wonder why. [You may want to see my earlier essay, “Bayer AG Of Germany Is Into Direct-Seeded Rice (DSR) – As A Filipino, I Ask ‘Why Not PH-Based IRRI And PhilRice?’” The Evergreen Rebel, blogspot.com].

Mr Bayer says:

Modern direct seeding of rice [DSR] is a crop establishment methodology augmented by various technologies, including breeding, water management, mechanization, digital, and other systems. Direct seeding can significantly conserve resources like water and labor and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

DSR can save on water & labor that will help solve Farmer Poverty, and reduce GHGs that will reduce the dangers of Climate Change.

What we need today is a Climate Change in Agriculture!@517

Community Journalism – Florangel Rosario Braid Pushing “Citizen Participation In Governance” And Frank A Hilario Pushing “Village Development”

Extremely glad that Manila Bulletin’s esteemed columnist Florangel Rosario Braid is pushing for “Citizen Participation In Governance” with her latest book, “TAGPO: Right Place, Right Time,” which Ms Florangel says was launched September (21 Oct 2023, “The Future Of Community Journalism,” Manila Bulletin, mb.com.ph). “Tagpo” means “Scene” – the welcome scene to her is citizens actively contributing efforts at governance.

Ms Florangel says:

It is now clear that if journalism is to play an important role in national development, it must focus on where it is most needed – the local communities that are in the process of  decentralizing.
(“Community Journalism” from 7knetwork.com, “Climate-friendly” from sciencedirect.com)

In aid of national development, she says, journalism “must focus on where it is most needed – the local communities that are in the process of decentralizing.” She says the communicators can mediate in 2 ways: (a) “mobilizing citizen participation” and (b) serving as “watchdogs” eyeing “effective governance.”

Meanwhile, what should the national and local governments be pushing in the farms? I say, “Regenerative Agriculture” (RA). That is where my blog “Communication for Development of Vibrant Villages (ComDeV) [blogspot.com] focuses on – shared vigorous growth of villages via agriculture.

Ms Florangel is focused on journalists (1) watching out for any “inequalities in financing resources among LGUs, or the local government units,” (2) [encouraging the enhancement of LGU] capacities, as well as (3) helping governance “enhance transparency.”

Ms Florangel is focused on the journalists, as she is a journalist herself. I am focused on the villages where farmers & their families live, as I am an aggie educator (BSA major in Ag Edu, UP Los Baños, 1965).

Right now, I am pursuing Regenerative Agriculture, as I said earlier. With the principles of & practices under RA followed:
The farms would enjoy naturally rich soils;
The farmers would enjoy naturally rich harvests;
The consumers would enjoy naturally rich foods;
The farmers would enjoy rich bank accounts –
RA would thus enrich the countryside with vibrant villages!

Ms Florangel is co-founder of the Asian Institute of Journalism & Communication (AIJC), with headquarters in Manila. On its Facebook page (facebook.com), the AIJC says:

For over four decades, the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication (AIJC) has empowered generations of communicators across different sectors and industries. AIJC continues to keep up with the rapidly evolving media and communication landscape, tackling challenges, and creating innovation and opportunities together with its students, alumni, and stakeholders.

The AIJC is “creating innovation and opportunities” with journalists pushing for “citizen participation in governance” – I’m thinking of the day when AIJC graduates learn enough of Regenerative Agriculture to help push it in the countryside; that would be journalists and citizens participating in a type of agriculture that helps solve “Farmer Poverty” and resolve “Climate Change!”

Yet, what I see as the priority problem is that not a single aggie institution in the Philippines has adopted and none is teaching the philosophy of Regenerative Agriculture.

As Peter, Paul and Mary sang, “When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?”@517