Reboot Small Farmers & Grow Healthy & Wealthy Farming Villages Via The Regenerative Agriculture 5Es!

This time, I chose an article by a Rappler journalist as a takeoff point for looking at Filipino farmers, John Patrick P Habacon’s “Why Filipino Farmers Suffer” (13 March 2023, Rappler, rappler.com, source of top image) –written  in Rappler’s Truth Journalism. CEO of Rappler Maria Ressa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, whom Rebecca Root says is “widely considered the face of the free press in the Philippines’” (18 Jan 2023, “‘Truth Wins’: Maria Ressa, Philippine Nobel Prize Winner, Acquitted Of Tax Evasion Charges,” The Guardian, theguardian.com). Truth will set you free?

I don’t know where Rappler’s Mr Habacon is coming from, but he says:

When asked about the greatest problem they currently face, the farmers mentioned… what they were [most] troubled about was the volatility of palay prices in the market…

The declining prices of rice in the market can be attributed to the intensive neoliberalization of our country’s economy. There are hopes that neoliberalization can bring development and an improved quality of life, especially in developing countries such as the Philippines.

Mr Habacon says “the underlying reason” for farmer misery is the “intensive neoliberalization” (whatever it is) of the economy. I ask, “Is that the truth?”

Never mind! My journalism is entirely different from Rappler’s “Truth Journalism” – mine I call “THiNK Journalism” that goes like this: “True? + Helpful? + Inspiring? + Necessary? + Kind?” THiNK! If not all of the above, that’s not my journalism. (No, I’m not perfect, but I try to be, starting THiNKing for Farmers’ Progress 23 years ago.)

As a teacher (BSA major in Ag Edu, UP Los Baños, 1965), I will now present my new, original lesson, which I simply/not-so-simply call

“Regenerative Agriculture 5Es.”
The 5Es are: Energy, Entrepreneurship, Environment, Esprit de Corps, and Extension. The 5Es applies to what I now refer to as
Thinking Farming – everyone thinking for/with the others.

Energy – Mostly we get our energy from the healthy foods we eat, so farmers must grow healthy crops – and that calls for Organic Agriculture (OA). Down with Chemical Agriculture (CA)!

Entrepreneurship – Farmers should learn how to become winners in the farming business and not simply complain about prices in the markets.

Environment  – Any program in agriculture must care about the environment and thereby care for the village where the crops are grown. To stop practicing CA is to stop poisoning village soils and foods.

Esprit de Corps – I will now reinvent a saying and say: “Man cannot live on man alone – he must have Companions, Comrades, Co-Workers.” Land tenure-ship essentially is anti-economies, magnifying a scale of one! My favorite dictionary defines esprit de corps as “A common spirit of comradeship, enthusiasm, and devotion to a cause among the members of a group” (The Free Dictionary, thefreedictionary.com). With esprit de corps, all villagers are winners!

Extension  – The agricultural extension people owe it to the villagers to spread awareness and develop abilities of farmers so that they can enrich themselves and villagers via Regenerative Agriculture. Always remember, folks: The Regenerative Village is Us!@517