𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗝𝗢𝗬 𝗢𝗙 𝗙𝗔𝗥𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗚: 𝗝𝗢𝗬𝗙𝗨𝗟 𝗚𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗡 𝗙𝗔𝗥𝗠’𝗦 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗜𝗧𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗢𝗥𝗚𝗔𝗡𝗜𝗖 𝗔𝗚𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗨𝗟𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘

As someone who grew up in a family of farmers, Jocelyn “Joy” D. Reyes knew the hardships and significance of being a farmer which was the reason that inspired her to continue farming. It was her husband’s family that motivated her to engage in organic farming.

Organic farming produces sustainable food that is good for the body and for the environment. Because of this, she committed to adopt natural and organic farming in her own farm as well as advocate it to other farmers, especially to the younger generations.

Chasing the Vision

Like any other organization or establishment, the Joyful Garden Farm Organic Farmers Association Inc. had a rough start. The farm encountered various challenges such as the lack of funds for the establishment of the farm and for the equipment it needed.

Joyful Garden Farm Organic Farmers Association Inc. started as a small livestock farm, raising pigs and goats in their family’s uncultivated lot. But then, Joy had a dream that this small farm would be as magnificent as a garden full of beautiful flowers.

Eventually, her visions inspired her to develop the farm that would have a purpose in the community. She continued to till the land and acquired agricultural knowledge to pursue her new-found interest.

At first, Joy’s aim was only to provide organic commodities for her family along with their goal to promote and implement organic farming. “When we started, ang aming mission and vision is just to advocate, to promote, to propagate, to develop further the implementation ng practice ng organic farming sa Pilipinas,” she explained.

With her perseverance, the farm became successful that it now produces various naturally-grown and organic crops including pigmented rice, tomato, eggplant, okra, pepper, Chinese cabbage or “pechay,” dragon fruit and medicinal herbs such as gotu kola and aloe vera. The farm also has poultry and livestock such as chicken, duck, turkey, and cattle.

From Passion to Mission

One of the missions of the farm is to provide educational assistance to each of their farmer members and other farmers in the community. With the help of her family and government agencies, they were able to fulfill their mission by advocating and teaching farmers the practice of organic farming which they could also adopt in their own farm.

As part of their advocacy, the farm became a Learning Site for Agriculture (LSA) in 2012 and eventually a farm school offering different courses to the farmers in the community. Joy and her staff together with different government agencies such as the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) were helping other farmers by teaching them agricultural practices and other related-matters, especially organic farming.

Additionally, according to Joy, the farm has already produced 325 graduates from their farm school.

“Ang mission namin is to help conduct trainings para ma-educate yung mga farmers at para ma-advocate din sa mga students. Kasi alam natin ang mga farmers natin is not that young enough, kumbaga kailan na natin talaga may mga successors din yung mga farmers natin,” she stated.

In line with this statement, Joyful Farm was also accepting On-the-Job Trainees from the Bulacan Agricultural State College (BASC) and immersion students from different schools in Bulacan to help them gain experiences and knowledge in various agricultural practices and also to advocate organic farming.

From Experience to Advice

Joy shared that the key to success is hard work and perseverance. “Ang maipapayo ko lang sa ating mga magsasaka ay sipag lang at tiyaga at of course, kung ano man ang gusto nating marating, importante basta gumagalaw tayo at talagang nagtitiwala tayo sa ating sarili, nagtitiwala tayo sa Panginoon, kailangan lang po talaga samahan natin ng determination na kaya natin,” when asked to give a piece of advice to other farmers, farm owner and future farmer generations.

“Sa hamon ng buhay kailangan marunong po tayong sumubok pa at sumubok hanggang tayo ay magiging matagumpay,” she shared that one should take risks to become successful.

With all of her achievements, Joy proved that success comes with the impact you bestow to other people, especially the individuals in your community. “Success is not only in the essence of receiving awards, success comes from the heart. Your satisfaction in life when you help other people has a great impact, it is one of the things that we recognize as success” she added.

As someone who is committed and passionate to help other farmers, Joy encountered countless challenges. But with the help of the people surrounding her, especially her family and the Almighty God, she was able to bravely face these challenges and eventually became an effective LSA and successful farm owner.

Written by: Mike Daeniel R. Talplacido