OA Proposal, A Magazine To Popularize Organic Agriculture (OA) In The Philippines

Frankly And Honestly – This is the best way I can serve my country the Philippines, that is, indirectly selling organic agriculture (OA) produce by directly selling the science and sense of OA by one-man-banding the publication of an OA digital monthly magazine. The tentative name: “Organic PH” with the guiding principle: “If I don’t see any worm in the produce you are selling, you are not organic!”

(Images: “farm produce” from philstar.com, “worm” from alamy.com)

What credentials do I have to produce a new publication in agriculture, darlingly dedicated to organic farming? I have to tell you that my idea of OA began in 1966 when I discovered in the open shelves of my alma mater UP College of Agriculture (now UP Los Baños) the twin revolutionary books authored by American gentleman farmer Edward H Faulkner, both published by the University of Oklahoma Press: Plowman’s Folly (1943), and Soil Development (1953).

The common American and Filipino farmers’ foolishness is plowing, inverting the soil with the weeds and/or crop leftovers or refuse – putting the organic matter out of reach of the roots of crops that farmers plant. Thus, farmers commonly need to apply expensive fertilizers; thus. farmers cause their own poverty!

How did I happen and/or prepare to be the one-man band to upgrade the thinking of Filipino agriculturists first, the farmers next? 3 ways:

1.   FAH Non-Digital

As a writer and editor, I was typewriter-driven from 1975 to 1980 at the Forest Research Institute (FORI), becoming founder & editor for the FORI monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and quarterly popular magazine Habitat. Those 3 publications made FORI well-known and well-liked at the campus of UP College of Agriculture, as well as in Africa and America.

2.   FAH Learning To Be Digital

Later, as an extension specialist of the Farming Systems & Soil Resources Institute (FSSRI) of UPLB, I began to teach myself digital works: writing, editing, and desktop publishing. On Innocents Day 1985, I began with learning WordStar version 1. That was when Elpidio “Pids” Rosario was Director of FSSRI – again, so, much thanks, Pids!

3.   FAH Digital

I never left the personal computer (PC) after that. I began appreciating blogging. Sometime in 2000, I began writing for the American Chronicle. After that magazine ceased to be, digitally I continued as an information sharer, thank God! Digital was already in my flesh & blood…….

2003, I became The Editor In Chief of the Philippine Journal of Crop Science (PJCS) published 3 times a year by the Crop Science Society of the Philippines (CSSP). I became worthy of being included in the Guinness Book Of World Records because I singlehandedly brought the PJCS up-to-date from being 3-years late to being up-to-date in 3 years time, meaning I worked double time – and then with my editorial expertise, the CSSP applied for its PJCS and was included in the prestigious international list “ISI” (now “Web of Science”). Unbelievable? You better believe it!

To solve Farmer Poverty and resolve Climate Change, simultaneously, we need organic agriculture. OA!@517