AVANT GARDENER Yvette Tan There’s a school of thought that’s been going around agriculture circles for some time, and that the industry needs to be repackaged as “sexy” in order to attract practitioners and investors. The most common way I’ve observed this being done is through marketing...
AVANT GARDENER Yvette Tan Five agriculture myths that need to die Farming, like politics, is a contentious topic in the Philippines, especially for folks who aren’t exposed to the agriculture industry. It’s very easy to come up with an opinion on a subject when one has no real exposure to it...
AVANT GARDENER Yvette Tan I fell in love with agriculture because I like to eat The second most common question I get asked is, “How did you fall in love with agriculture?” My answer is always, “food.” More often than not, this answer shocks people, or at the very least, makes them laugh. I...
AVANT GARDENER Yvette Tan I’ve always maintained that owning a farm is the original Filipino dream. Unfortunately, like many dreams, owning a successful farm can be challenging. Aside from the difficulty in acquiring adequate farmland suitable for the crops or livestock one wants to cultivate or...
AVANT GARDENER Yvette Tan Agriculture industry. This is the name we call everything that falls under the terms “agriculture,” which, contrary to popular misconception, isn’t just about planting and harvesting. Agriculture work isn’t limited to farming, but that’s for another column....
AVANT GARDENER Yvette Tan What do avocados, bananas, oranges, and kale have in common? The answer is that their popularity in the Western — and by extension, global — market are the results of heavy marketing campaigns. Contrary to popular belief, these beloved crops didn’t achieve prominence...
AVANT GARDENER Yvette Tan Chocolate and bananas are a delicious combination, but did you know that these two crops also pair well together in the field? Cacao has been on the news lately. What isn’t talked about is how many cacao farmers have been commenting that it takes a long time - about four...
AVANT GARDENER Yvette Tan As we enter another two weeks of lockdown, the two biggest concerns people have are making money and food. Actually, even the “making money” part is ultimately so they can buy food. If this pandemic has highlighted anything, it is that food is important, and that...
AVANT GARDENER Yvette Tan As the number of farmers in the country continues to decrease even as their median age increases, there has been a push to encourage people, especially young ones, to consider agriculture as a source of income. While there are many success stories of people who have made a...
AVANT GARDENER Yvette Tan Food has become such a big part of pop culture that there are people who base their personalities on what they’ve eaten and where they’ve eaten it. There is nothing bad about this. Eating is an easy way to get to know a culture, and experiencing different flavors can...
AVANT GARDENER Yvette Tan There’s a story about Nick Joaquin that’s been going around the creative writing circle for as long as I can remember. It’s said that during a writer’s workshop, the National Artist got so annoyed at a participant's work that he allegedly told the poor workshop...
AVANT GARDENER Yvette Tan In history class, we learn that the Philippines has had a robust trade with China for centuries before the arrival of the Spanish. Before the ethnic Chinese who had settled in the Philippines were rounded up by the Spanish and forced to live in enclaves (among other...
