My country the Philippines is celebrating its “Agriculturists’ Month” the whole of July, and the foreseeable & progressive aim is to transform Philippine Agriculture from low profitability to high profitability, “Beyond Sustainable, Towards Enhanced Nationwide Agricultural Productivity And Competitiveness.”  (image “Transformative” from sg.images.search.yahoo.com) This is all-of-July celebration.

Philippine agriculturists are celebrating the “Agriculturists’ Month” with the theme, “Beyond Sustainable, Towards Enhanced Nationwide Agricultural Productivity And Competitiveness.”

Careful there now! Our agriculturists are and/or I am assuming that their agriculture is already “enhanced” so much as to produce so much. I don’t blame them – but that’s it: The productivity of modern agriculture can only multiply so much – that is, without degrading the soil, without debilitating the crops via chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides – and can never be self-sustaining. Sustainable, but not self-sustainable – there is a great difference!

Here are alternatives, and any of the 13 practices of Regenerative Agriculture (RA) – name & scheme borrowed from the American Rodale Institute – is highly productive and highly self-sustaining:

(1) Cover Cropping,
(2) Crop Rotation,
(3) Farm Crops + Tree Crops (Agroforestry),
(4) Green Manuring,
(5) Intercropping,
(6) Multiple Cropping,
(7) No-Till Farming,
(8) Organic Fertilization,
(9) Ratooning,
(10) Rotational Grazing,
(11) “Three Sisters” Planting,
(12) Trap Cropping, and
(13) Trash Mulching.

Wow!

July is “Philippine Agriculturists’ Month” as declared by President Ferdinand “BBM” Marcos Jr (Proclamation 544, 10 May 2024) (see top image):

WHEREAS, Republic Act No 8435 or the "Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997" declares it a policy of the State to enable those who belong to the agriculture and fisheries sectors to participate and share in the fruits of development and growth in a manner that utilizes the nation's resources in the most efficient and sustainable way possible by establishing a more equitable access to assets, income, basic and support services, and infrastructure…

I am a teaching agriculturist – BSA Ag Edu 1965, UP Los Baños – now then, I’m eager to “participate and share in the fruits of development and growth in a manner that utilizes the nation's resources in the most efficient and sustainable way possible…”

In fact, as one of The Editor In Chiefs hanging around (about me, you can ask any member of the Philippine Journal of Crop Science), I am more interested in this; at home I can produce the reading & viewable materials:

“The celebration of the Philippine Agriculturists(‘) Month will engage professional agriculturists in agricultural advocacy, policy research and formulation, and provide an avenue for enterprise-building, communications training, and community development.”

Agricultural advocacy – as an agriculturist, I hereby advocate that RA be taught in all barangays in the Philippines immediately! None of those practices are sophisticated, none requires new varieties and new ways of growing them – See easy list above.)

”Whereas, the celebration of the Philippine Agriculturists(‘) Month will engage professional agriculturists in agricultural advocacy, policy research and formulation, and provide an avenue for enterprise-building, communications training, and community development.”

Filipino farmers, here comes me with RA! Here is science to fall in love with!

To say is to believe!@517