To combat land desertification and prolonged drought, the month of June is observed as Soil Conservation Month, with this year’s theme: “Reviving the Soil Today, Our Legacy for Tomorrow.” This observance is spearheaded by the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) under the Department of Agriculture. Soil Conservation Month aims to raise awareness about the vital importance of soil conservation in achieving sustainable agriculture and ensuring food security (source link here: https://rb.gy/7fgq0s).
In observance of this initiative, we interviewed two organic farmers and practitioners—Gerry Burdas of Tikala Natural Farms (now known as Living Soils Farm under his Living Soils Rural Ventures, an organization focusing on soil regeneration) and Victoriano Tagupa of SAFEGCC Corporation—who have been championing and promoting regenerative farming, soil regeneration, and soil microbiology.
In this student-teacher dynamics (Burdas is a former student of Professor Tagupa at the College of Agriculture in Ateneo de Cagayan University), their dedicated efforts to inform and empower farmers throughout the region align deeply with their drive and mission to serve the farming communities they strive to transform.
Aside from Professor Tagupa’s tutelage, Burdas trained abroad and was granted a scholarship on soil regeneration at the Soil Food Web School in Corvallis, Oregon, USA. This led to the establishment of his Living Soils Farm in Claveria, Misamis Oriental, a farm dedicated to teaching and demonstrating the capability of soil to regenerate.
What is regenerative farming? And how do you explain it to a farmer in simple terms?
Regenerative farming is an agricultural cropping system that utilizes the natural photosynthetic process of the environment, plants, and microbes to deposit stable soil carbon and make the various nutrients and growth hormones available for the plants to use, without depending on expensive external inputs. The process increases microbial biodiversity in soil, allows for access to organic nutrients, and provides humics and fulvics needed by the plant (according to research, humic and fulvic acids are varieties of humic substances that develop as a result of the breakdown of plant and animal material).
For a farmer, nature has the ability to heal the soil if you allow it to always have plant cover, return the organic matter to the soil and feed the beneficial microbes of your soil.
How important is soil health, and what can we do about it to have a common understanding with our local farmers?
Ask a farmer and he will say that our soils are “umaw”. Meaning, our soil is so infertile that we cannot harvest anything if we don’t buy and apply fertilizers and pesticides. It’s likened to a sick human in the intensive care unit- without medicines (likened to fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, etc), our crops are not going to survive. This commercial dependence has led are farmers to become identified as the poorest of the poor in our country.
As such, our soils are very important. Because we do not have healthy soils, we are having a multitude of problems in human nutrition, health, environmental degradation, global warming, and food security. So why do we have a focus on high-value crops and not a focus on soil health? If we look at nature, our great forest thrives without the need for any human intervention.
What is the role of soil science in regenerative farming?
Soil science should be the focus if we want to raise good, low-cost, and healthy crops. By focusing on the relationship of the soil, we are able to bring the benefits of a healthy soil to nutrition, human health, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity.
Are there pros and cons when practicing regenerative farming?
Cons:
- It takes time to rehabilitate your soils, depending on the situation of your soil
- You need to bring back organic matter. Don’t burn. A soil must have at least 6% organic matter for your underground workers to thrive
Pros:
- You can regenerate your soils and deposit stable soil carbon through plant and microbial interaction in less than 2 years, depending on the status of your soil.
- Less cost- Our trained cooperatives provide their Liquid biological soil amendments to farmers at Php 15-20 per liter compared to Php 400-1000 per liter of commercial biological soil amendments
- Sustainable- to create the biological soil amendments, one would only use available waste materials
- Carbon Sink- The Soil regeneration process allows for the extraction of CO2 from the air and deposits it as stable carbon in the soil. This is evidenced by the deepening of the “A” soil horizon on treated fields, up to 12 inches in almost two years
- Beneficial insects- one will see a rebirth of beneficial insects in your field
Is it possible to know the general soil health condition of Northern Mindanao?
Yes, by mapping the existing foliage in unused areas.
A declining soil health and continuous land degradation can lead to desertification. What practical steps can our farmers take to aver
- Crop cover- never allow your soils to be bare under the elements. Plant, plant, plant. Even weeds serve a purpose of covering your soil from the elements.
- Increase soil organic matter. Mow your fields. Do not use herbicides, as this kills the underground workforce.
- Apply biological soil amendments- Check out if you have access to biological soil amendments with a healthy population and diversity of Bacteria, Protozoa, Fungi and Beneficial Nematodes.
- Minimize application of inorganic fertilizers (agricultural salts) and pesticides. Everybody has a role in your field.
- Relay crop, intercrop, stratified cropping. Just keep the soil covered.
How can we encourage our farmers that soil health and good soil condition are as important as production (and the whole value chain)?
Farmers only look at a few things: Yield, if their yield is higher than the previous cropping, Prices, if market prices are high, but this is beyond their control, and Cost of inputs, how can they purchase at lower prices? So we focus the discussion and experiences on these focus areas.
In your mission to spread the word and practices about regenerative farming, are there existing farmers who are already into it?
There are already 48 cooperatives who has been trained (Visayas and Mindanao). Coop federations like the AGricooph, NATCCO, civil society organizations like PHILDHRAA, PAKISAMA have forwarded their member cooperatives for training.
Currently, we are having trials on rice in Prosperidad, Agusan Sur and eight farmers have already reported a 10-20 sack increase in yield and a 50% reduction in costs for last year. This year, we are going to know the results of the 4 farmers (with 2-5 hectares).
The trials and trainings of coops from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao were made possible with the help of the Collectif Strategies Alimentaires (CSA), a Belgian NGO implementing the GIZ MinPAD SPADE project.
I had the privilege also of serving as the resource person for the three-day training program titled "RK: The New Generation of Farmers (Regenerative and Knowledgeable Soil Stewards)", held from September 11 to 13, last year at the TIEZA Gardens of Malasag, Eco-tourism Village in Cugman, Cagayan de Oro City. The said event was organized by ATI-RTC 10 under the Province-led Agriculture and Fisheries Extension System (PAFES).
Meanwhile, to evaluate the overall condition of soil health in Northern Mindanao, Professor Vic Tagupa of the Sustainable Agriculture Family-centered Entrepreneurial Group of Co-Creators (SAFEGCC) Corporation based in Balingasag, Misamis Oriental is in the process of finalizing a concept note for the Strategic Program Development Framework titled Regional Soil Health Assessment and Regenesis of Local Organic-based Management (SHALOM). This framework comprises five core science-based programs, namely: (1.) Visual Field Indicators (VFIs) in accordance with FAO standards (2.) Quantitative chemical analysis of sixteen essential soil elements (3.) Soil microbial analysis (4.) Qualitative analysis employing Circular Paper Chromatography to assess energy, enzymatic activity, biological value, and related parameters (5.) Regenesis of local organic-based management practices within family farms, integrating both scientific and experiential methodologies, with emphasis on commodity-specific and agroecological system-oriented approaches.
“Regenesis’ is to connect human consciousness to care for our common home, and we emphasize human values that Regenerative practices are biblical, hence, regenerating human values towards reverence of God's creation or faith in action”, Prof. Tagupa said in a separate interview.
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