It’s easy to go green
Agricultural engineer Emie Siojo pitches greenhouses and indoor farming technologies as the country’s entry point to consistent food production and self-sufficiency
IN one of his field visits, former Agriculture secretary William Dar was attracted to an unlikely destination in Tagaytay City.
Not quite on the radar, the farm of Turbulent Drip Sales Inc. was not intended to become an agritourism site.
The visit of the Agriculture secretary would be the farm’s first famous stamp of approval, but for more technical reasons.
Established in 2012 by agricultural engineer Emie Siojo, the company behind the farm was meant to aid his ongoing greenhouse projects for the government and for developmental institutions such as the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), a grantee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Since then, Siojo has welcomed curious onlookers into his integrated demo farm which features greenhouses, a quail and chicken coop, fishponds, an odorless piggery, and a flowering of vibrant and plump bell peppers which surround his residence that doubles as his office.
The demo farm is a photogenic curiosity, reviving the arduous catch-up game of the Philippines with the rest of Southeast Asia in agricultural technology, greenhouse and smart farming systems.
Siojo runs the farm as a multiple demo site for hydroponics, aquaponics and irrigation technologies.
The demo output is stunning. Tendrils of cherry tomatoes and varieties of lettuce fanning out from vertical farming systems in the greenhouses are eye-catching optics against the current vegetable crisis in the country, presently demoralized by the unbelievable prices and scarcity of red onions and other commodities.
The plumpness and varied palette of the bell peppers paint a rosier potential for the Philippines’ yet lofty aspiration to food self-sufficiency.
Siojo trained as an agricultural engineer at Central Philippines University in Iloilo City. He had wanted to be a mechanical engineer, but he pounced on a scholarship opportunity in agricultural engineering.
Straight from graduation, he was hired in Planters Products Inc., a producer of agrochemical inputs, for 14 months.
I think in three years’ time, puwede nang maging fully digital ang farming systems. Ngayon, sobrang dami nang interesado, ang problema lang financing. But then, maraming gustong mag-finance sa agriculture projects.”
He subsequently worked for Netafim, an Israeli firm specializing in irrigation solutions.
Siojo established his own firm after Netafim was forced to shut down in 2009 due to the global recession.
Siojo recently co-organized a seminar on smart greenhouse farming solutions powered by the Internet of Things, with no less than the Ambassador of Israel to the Philippines Ilan Fluss in attendance.
Greenhouse farming in the Philippines is yet a far cry from what they have in Vietnam and Thailand, which ironically managed to revolutionize their agriculture after sending their technicians and scholars to IRRI in Laguna.
Siojo had traveled far and wide and had marveled at the extent hydroponics systems are utilized in Thailand and the vast indoor farms he saw in Taiwan.
Vietnam’s agri-tourism boasts of hectares of greenhouses.
“We have been doing greenhouses nationwide, for mostly private sector and government clients,” he shared.
From flowers to food
Turbulent’s farm was growing flowers until the Covid pandemic hit in 2020.
Demand for flowers drastically declined due to the lockdown and strict quarantine rules that included the prohibition of holding funerals and wakes.
“We had to convert our demo farm into vegetable production with different systems such as hydroponic, soilless and soil-based.”