When The New World & The New Beings Met, The Humans Forgot About Being True To Mother Earth, She Who Gave Them Their Genes And Geniuses!

05 June 2022, this year, it is “World Environment Day” with its slogan “OnlyOneEarth.” And to that last thought I now add, “OnlyOneMotherNature.” (We Roman Catholics celebrate it as “Pentecost Sunday,” birthday of our beloved Roman Catholic Church.)

Above, I see plowed soil turned mud piles around an ocean of dark water. Our farmers turn a lusty green field (right) into a lake of water and mud (left) – and nearby UP Los Baños approves, or does not object! This field is actually for growing flower crops, but a ricefield is treated exactly the same in the beginning. I should know – I am a farmer’s son in Asingan, Pangasinan. (Have you seen IRRI’s experimental fields?)
(Images: “Pentecost Sunday” from Facebook sharing of Irma Santos Paulme;
field shot by me 09 Dec 2016 in Laguna)

Now I will mix religion with agriculture. The Catholics believe in miracles, and I Catholic can demonstrate a miracle via the ricefield!

I can grow rice without any fertilizer and outyield my neighbor farmers all the time!

No, I don’t own a farm – but we did; and many years ago, I was with my brother-in-law Enso Casasos, farmhand to my aging father, and I told the operator of the huge Howard tractor with the huge rotavator blades – to simply run that monster over the field setting depth of cut to zero. I was going to turn those weeds into natural fertilizer in a miraculous way:

With my rotavator method, immediately, an earthly miracle happens – that machine-made & machine-distributed layer of trash starts to turn itself into an organic mulch that has all the natural richness crops need!

You cannot find a more-fertile fertilizer than that layer of trash created by that rotavator idly running following man’s instructions!

Enso treasured that Asingan rotavator episode. And so, about 20 years later, when I visited my barrio Sanchez in my hometown, Enso told me in so many words:

Manong, malagipmo ni Papang (my father Dionisio whom Enso also called “Papang” in respect and closeness) ken daydi insurom iti daydi Howard operator ti rotavator idiay Domanpot? Umisisem ti bangbangir! Ket pinadasko. Itatta, dagiti kaarrubak nga mannalon, agsidsiddaawda latta gapu to uray ania ti aramidenda, tuladenda amin nga makitada nga araramidek, apay ket dida maala ti apitko nga nagngato? Maabakda latta agingga ita!

[(My free translation: “Manong (elder brother in Ilocano), do you remember Papang and what you instructed the Howard rotavator in Domanpot? He was smiling on one side of his face! (Me: I told him to set the depth of cut to zero, nil, because I knew that the rotavator set was itself so heavy it will cut into the soil anyway – and so the rotavator was hardly using any diesel fuel to run it!) I tried it myself, and my neighbor farmers have been copying everything I have been doing – but never could match my yield!]

If you follow the laws of Mother Earth, she will grant all your wishes!@517

Teddy Boy Locsin Wrongfully Underrates Blogging As Modern Journalism, While Sara Duterte Rightfully Protests Negative Tweeting – I Blogger State That Digital Media Must Mediate In Favor Of Society!

This blogger says I forgive Teddy Boy for saying, “There is no journalism on social media” as quoted by Job Manahan (04 June 2022, “Locsin On Bloggers: ‘There Is No Journalism On Social Media’,” ABS-CBN News, news.abs-cbn.com).

Not meant as an insult, but an insult nevertheless: “There is no journalism on social media” – Teddy Boy’s 7 words of un-wisdom. As a blogger of some 8,000,000 (8 Million) words today since 2000, I forgive him, as there is no school for bloggers – I learned on my own starting 1997, or 25 years ago.

“There is no journalism on social media” – let’s see how it goes. What is the purpose of journalism? The American Press Institute quotes Bill Kovach & Tom Rosenstiel from their book The Elements Of Journalism (americanpressinstitute.org):

The purpose of journalism is [neither] defined by technology, nor by journalists, [nor] the techniques they employ. [Instead], the principles and purpose of journalism are defined by something more basic: the function news plays in the lives of people.

I now say journalism is both news and views. Modern journalism exists in blogs, vlogs, print & broadcast media. We bloggers rely on texts & inert images while vloggers rely on video. The high purpose of news is to communicate facts; the high function of views is to verify and/or intensify/sanctify news.

Teddy Boy, don’t tell me that only what appears in print media is journalism and blogging is only bragging! Among other things, you are definitely discrediting Trixie Cruz Angeles, the appointed Press Secretary of ascendant President Ferdinand “BBM” Marcos Jr, who, Krixia Subingsubing & Nestor Corrales say, want to eagerly admit vloggers into Malacañang press conferences (02 June 2022, “Accrediting Vloggers A Palace Media Priority,” Inquirer.net, newsinfo.inquirer.net).

Here comes ascendant Vice President Sara Duterte castigating Raissa Robles: “Sara Duterte Slams Journalist For ‘Demonization‘ Of Mindanao” (John Eric Mendoza, 05 June 2022, Inquirer.net, newsinfo.inquirer.net). Ms Sara walloped vlogger Ms Raissa for her sad and sadistic tweet on the published plan of ascendant Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco “to open up tourism in Mindanao despite the presence of the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in the region.” Ms Raissa tweeted:

I’m sure the extremist Abu Sayyaf and other bandits would be pleased by the prospects of so many potential kidnap victims…Way to go, Frasco. Prep yourself for ransom negotiations. ASG might ask you to nego personally.

If that tweet isn’t inane, it’s insane! Sane Ms Sara is fuming mad. Considering, she has been long the Mayor of Davao City, the central city of Mindanao. She found the tweet “replete with journalistic recklessness and irresponsibility.” She also said, “What Robles [said] was a demonization of Mindanao and an insult to its people.”

Indeed, since social media is open to anybody wanting to say something, it is quite a temptation to mock people and think one can get away with it. Shame on you, Raissa Robles! Freedom of the Press is not Freedom to Oppress.@517

Do Picnic, Do Organic! Replying To “Food Nationalism” – As An Agriculturist, Here’s My Advice On How We Can Survive Export Bans On Foods & Related Items

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is causing worrisome loss of lives & endangering exports, notably foods & related stuff. We can’t stop the war – but we can start producing what we would have imported! Go picnic, go organic!

I write prompted by what Kentaro Iwamoto says: “'Food Nationalism' Worries Rise After India, Malaysia Export Bans” (03 June 2022, Nikkei Asia, asia.nikkei.com):

Soaring global food prices have prompted some Asian countries to halt exports of certain products to protect domestic consumers, raising fears of still higher inflation among their trade partners. More broadly, experts see an imminent risk of "food nationalism" spreading to more countries and products. At least one framed the phenomenon as another setback for globalization.

After India & Malaysia, “Food nationalism” might spread to other countries and products. You can’t blame countries exercising their food nationalism when it happens – it is self-defense.

The Nikkei Asia reporter quotes Priyanka Kishore, an economist at Oxford Economics as saying, "On the whole, I would say that export bans add on to the upside pressure on food prices. The impact is more pronounced for the direct trade partners."

Now then – for my country the Philippines, I am thinking of the food products like the rice and fertilizers we import, and I’m thinking like a Boy Scout: “Be Prepared.”

This calls for informed leadership. “Leaders are interested in finding the best way rather than having their own way” – John Wooden, American sports legend.

Now then – I would advise Secretary of Agriculture William Dar to now prepare the Department of Agriculture (DA) to help a minimum of 2 million rice farmers in planting locally bred and/or available hybrid rices such as Advanta, Bayer, BioRice, Corteva, Longpin, and Pioneer.-- using organic fertilizers made locally.

Hybrids will then yield not only rice but PH rice nationalism!

It will be a new PH program, and I already have a name for it, following the President Ferdinand “FM” Marcos “Masagana 99” model:

Masagana 300. Bountiful 300. Yes, we have rice varieties that can now produce 300 cavans per hectare!

There are 3 reasons why I would love that Filipino farmers practice organic agriculture (OA) with hybrid rice, among other crops:

1.     Regenerates soil
OA enriches the soil by returning its mix of natural wealth, including microorganisms and macroorganisms that not only produce the nutrients crops need but also prevent the occurrence of any pest or disease.

2.     Produces healthy foods
Because the fertilizer is natural in origin, the crops that grow on those fields are full of healthy nutrients that bodies human and animal need in order to become and/or stay healthy.

3.     Fight climate change (Indirectly)
Unlike chemical fertilizers, organic fertilizers do not produce greenhouse gases (GHGs) that contribute to the occurrence, nay worsening of climate change: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide (the most powerful of GHGs).

Now then, growing crops using organic fertilizers concocted by Filipinos is DA nationalism I would subscribe to with all my heart!@517

Organic Agriculture, The Unheralded Savior Of The Earth From Catastrophic Climate Change – “What We Save Saves Us”

To help spark the pro-natural climate movement, I have just come up with a formula patterned after the famous E = mc² of science genius German Albert Einstein:

-E = mc²
where
-E is Negative Eden
m is Mess created by greenhouse gases (GHGs)
c² is Climate Change.

And:

+E = mc²
where
+E is Positive Eden
m is More created by organic materials
c² is Citizen Change.

Today, I am more convinced that organic agriculture (OA) is the Savior of the Earth – “What We Save Saves Us” (top image from sophiebenson.com, lower image from YouTube.com) – OA being the single movement on earth that can stop GHGs from farmers’ fields.

All that I singularly believe.

Sophie Benson of the United Kingdom says, above, “What we save, Saves Us.” If we save Mother Nature even as we “explore and exploit her” – we save ourselves from the dark & dangerous consequences of climate change.

In LinkedIn, Ms Sophie says, “I'm a freelance journalist working with a focus on sustainable fashion, the environment, workers' rights, and consumerism.” She is not talking about climate change, or what can be done to save us from ourselves. Ms Sophie’s “Sustainable development” is notautomatically pro-environment, while “Regenerative development” is definitely pro-organic, even more so demands that the richness of the soil be returned so that it can grow naturally healthy foods for our naturally healthy bodies. Sustainable development supports chemical agriculture – regenerative development supports organic agriculture.

Now then, I Filipino journalist have adopted OA as some sort of a battle cry; I say,

“Go picnic, it’s organic!”

Which is my revised cry from “Don’t panic, it’s organic!” I want to be as positive as often as I can, even in my writings.

Organic farming is not something that I know the hybrid rice companies have adopted as their area of concern, which is a  pity, as this copywriter in me sees it. (I worked under the tutelage of Nonoy Gallardo who was Creative Director of Pacifica Publicity Bureau. Pacifica was owned and run by Tony Zorilla, a well-respected creative mind.)

So, I have been looking at the products of the companies that demonstrated the actual performances of their respective hybrid rice (HR) in the “8^th National Rice Technical Forum” (NRTF) held in my hometown Asingan, Pangasinan on 24 Jan 2019, with previous techno-demo plantings at the common boundary of Asingan-Urdaneta City. The companies that participated that I have on my list are: Advanta, Bayer, BioRice, Corteva, and Longpin.

Since much higher yields are the basic promise of each company’s hybrid rice (HR), I am interested in 3 advocacies:

(1)   Promote HR

(2)   Promote business-mindedness among rice farmers

(3)   Promote organic agriculture as weapon against climate change.

I have not seen any advertisement or press release from any of the HR companies in the Philippines advocating any organic fertilizer.

The global goal of the New Eden is zero GHGs of any kind – now you have a better idea why I titled my blog “Towards A New Eden.”@517

Hybrid Rice Companies, Why Don’t You Sell Your Seeds By Packaging Them With Organic Farming – For Farmers To Save More Money & For All To Help Save The Earth!?

Hybrid Rice came dramatically to my hometown, Asingan, Pangasinan on 20 March 2019 with the opening of PH’s “8^th National Rice Technology Forum (NRTF).” This was one welcome sunrise!

Above, what you’re looking at is my rising sun image taken 06:11 AM of March 2019 with the “Welcome to Asingan, Pangasinan” sign at the border of Asingan and Urdaneta City. The companies that participated in the NRTF included Advanta, Bayer, BioRice, Corteva, and Longpin (I didn’t get the name of the others.)

That gives me an idea, if 3 years late, about those hybrid rice companies commercializing their wonder seeds and at the same time commercializing the “Save The Earth” concept – by selling organic farming. That would be shooting one thousand birds with one stone!

As a volunteer promoter of PH Agriculture, I am thinking of proclaiming the wonders of HR along with the wonders of regenerative organic agriculture. Your hybrid rice helping the farmers bring about 2 victories: (1) win over their own poverty and (2) help defeat climate change!
(image of cracked ground from World Economic Forum, weforum.org)

I am speaking as the forward-looking originator and promoter of Communication for Village Development in the 21^stCentury (CoViD21) – which revises my 1981 idea of ComDev.

I am a UP Los Baños graduate, BSA major in Ag Edu – an agriculturist and a teacher. My grade is nothing to sneeze at despite several 5’s: 2.36 Weighted Average. And I have been blogging in Agriculture in the last 22 years with something like 9 million words all written in proper essay form.

I hereby propose that hybrid rice can be more profitably propagated among the 10 million Filipino rice farmers if it is associated with organic farming, which is regenerative 4 times:

(1) regenerates the natural richness of the soil;
(2) regenerates the crop of its natural goodness – from natural elements in the organic matter come the healthy nutrients in the food we eat;
(3) regenerates our bodies as we consume the healthy foods;
(4) helps Earth regenerate itself as it contributes zero to greenhouse gases that produce climate change.

This is the miracle we have been waiting for!

Luisa Maria Jacinta C Jocson is positive about HR, saying: “Hybrid Rice Touted As Higher Yielding Despite Expense” (07 Feb 2022, BusinessWorld, businessworld.com). Yet, she says, as of 15 Jan, hundreds of thousands of hectares of farms remained uninterested in hybrid rice, 614,619 ha as against a total of 1.52,000,000 ha, or only 40%.

I declare: Hybrid rice companies could sell much, much more if they packaged agricultural scientific information along with agribusiness tips – in popular language – with their wonder seeds.  

I mean, they need a copywriter who is also conversant with the technology. As a UP Los Baños graduate who has been blogging in the last 22 years about agriculture:

I am volunteering to copy-produce 3 hybrid rice-organic agriculture brochures forfree! First come, first served. PM me for email.@517

BBM, The Son Also Rises. Learning From President Ferdinand “FM” Marcos About PH Agriculture 41 Years Ago

How old are our agriculture-related problems do you think? We can learn much from President Ferdinand “FM” Marcos via his speech “On The Thrusts Of The Ministry Of Agriculture” delivered 41 years ago!

(images: FM from Pilipino Mirror, pilipinomirror.com; BBM from manilatimes.net)

The source does not state where he spoke or the occasion (“Speech of His Excellency Ferdinand E Marcos. President of the Philippines ‘On The Thrusts Of The Ministry of Agriculture’” Released on 30 June 1981, Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines, (31 May 2022, officialgazette.gov.ph). But we can learn much from FM as he was always authoritative – his Science Minister Emil Q Javier said years ago FM always consulted the expert/s before speaking on a national matter.

In 1973, with FM’s instructions, “Masagana 99” (Bountiful 99) was conceived, with UPLB supporting it with experts. It succeeded in producing rice more than simply covering the national shortage. All PH Agriculture was bountiful.

So, in 1981, PH was exporting rice and self-sufficient in poultry, pork, vegetables, fruits and white corn.

What contributed to the growths were countryside infrastructure – irrigation, dams, and farm-to-market roads. (Secretary of Agriculture William Dar knows the value of all those today.)

FM said:

“We have given him [farmer] credit – cheap, non-collateral credit – so that he can afford the new, high input technology.” (So has Mr Dar and the Department of Agriculture under him.) To the farmer, credit is good and he needs cash.

“We have developed high-yielding seed varieties.” Remember, it was FM who literally pushed IRRI to release IR8 (“Miracle Rice”) even when scientists thought that it was not ready for Extension. And miracles of yields happened!

FM said, “We have assured the farmer a just and fair price for his produce by giving him a guaranteed floor price for his goods.” I think this is where the PRRD government – including executive, legislative, departments– fails, so our farmers have the right to complain about low prices for the foods they produce, in agriculture and fisheries.

“Most important, we have institutionalized these elements to make sure that we do not lose what we have gained, that the farmer’s progress is a continuing thing.” Today, we have institutionalized some elements, such as irrigation, farm-to-market roads, yes.

“To help the farmer get on his feet, we gave him the technology that has made him produce more, and the extension workers who have helped him understand the new technology.”

Ah! Always, you need extension workers in agriculture. Unfortunately, we do not practice Extension! Sadly, after FM, President Cory Aquinoabolished the Bureau of Agricultural Extension (BAEx) and replaced it with the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI)! Dumb move from some dumb advice.

So, today before and after Training, no Extension – Cory Aquino’s legacy to PH Agriculture. BBM Sir, please bring us back BAEx!

Moreover, BBM Sir, please execute a credit-driven program “Masagana 300” – to show that The Son Also Rises? Yes Sir, Mr Dar will assure us we can treble the yield of rice and/or the farmer’s income!@517

My Proposal: Unlimited-Usable Popular-Language Bank For Advancing Agriculture (UPLB for A2) – What You See Right Now Should Be A Portent Of Things To Come!

For many years now, right after the painting-filled gate of UP Los Baños at the foot of Mt Makiling, you can’t miss 2 ultra-large modern digital screens (left shown above) – and all you can say, as an alumnus, is? Wow!

(photo taken by me 08 Sept 2018)

The digital screen says, “October 10. Luncheon Salu-salo and Raffle Cultural Night.” (Salu-salo, party) This was for the celebration of Loyalty Day, the most attended yearly occasion by alumni of UPCA, now UP Los Baños (UPLB). It was the Centennial Loyalty Day. [You know what? In 1967, I wrote the heart-tugging open-letter “What Did You Do In The War, Daddy?” that singlehandedly changed the Target of Loyalty from vague American (WW1) to Filipino patriotism.]

Above, behind the modern screen you see an ancient tree, one large branch chopped off to accommodate (?) that 21^st century screen. To me, the hidden message is this:

While you don’t get rid of the olden,
you must get on with the modern!

Is my alma mater UPLB that modern in Research, Development and Extension (RD&E)? Yes. And No!

UPLB Extension is ancient, as intimated by the Carabao Park (left of image) that to this day displays carabao heads and a man with a plow. With knowledge dating back 100 years, UPLB continues to ignore the Internet as a medium for its Extension works!

UPLB has nothing remotely like the Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture (OpAPA), concept proposal for OpAPA forwarded 19 years ago by then-Director General William Dar of India-based ICRISAT, sister to IRRI in the Philippines. Mr Dar is now PH Secretary of Agriculture – while his OpAPA has been lost in time!

I know. PhilRice recruited me as a consultant for OpAPA, and I wrote a digital book I called The Geography Of Science, 198 pages, detailing how the OpAPA dream could be turned into reality; that book is with me still. Today, the digital world of Philippine agriculture is sleeping and I am still dreaming!

With that ultra-modern screen for passersby, you would think UPLB is ultra-modern, and you would be ultra-disappointed!

An alumnus, I am a BSA major in Ag Edu, 2.36 Weighted Average, with a Civil Service Professional license, 80.6%. Towards the end of 1985, about 37 years ago, I began teaching myself digital writing, editing, image manipulation, layouting, up to desktop publishing. The Hilarios connected to the Internet in 1997; I began blogging in 2000.

My blogging is not primarily motivated by personal glory or profit – it is to serve Philippine Agriculture in a thousand ways more than UPLB has been doing!

Via this essay, this alumnus proposes that a digital Unlimited-Usable Popular-Language Bank For Advancing Agriculture(UPLB for A²) be generated for easy use by extensionists and farmers anywhere anytime – library-able via cellphone. Extension is what is missing in PH Agriculture today!

Hopefully with P17 Million funding from the Department of Agriculture (DA) – the DA knows that knowledge must reach the farmers anyhow anytime!@517