When the Organic Agriculture Act was passed in 2010, it was a big challenge for the technical staff of East-West Seed Company to prove that vegetables, the modern varieties as well as the indigenous ones, could be grown successfully without chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

The assumption of many then was that it was impossible to grow vegetables without using fungicides and insecticides as well as chemical fertilizers.

Just the same the team assigned to the task, headed by Robert Accosta, did their home work. They attended natural farming workshops in Palawan given by a British practitioner, and in Cabiao, Nueva Ecija, where a Permaculture farm and training center is conducting training on the subject.

In the Permaculture system, the farmer or gardener grows various crops and farm animals in a sustainable way throughout the year. Now, the Permaculture team at East-West has proven that the system can be done. And they have put up the best proof on a 2,400 square-meter showcase at the company’s headquarters in San Rafael, Bulacan. The visitors from various parts of the country during the 30th anniversary of the company have witnessed what Robert Acosta and his team have accomplished.

East-West chairman Simon N. Groot, himself, appeared so pleased upon hearing Robert Acosta’s narration of what they did to transform the area into an organic farm.

Of course, Robert said, the transformation did not happen in just one year. During the first year, they cleared the area and planted mungo. When the mungo plants were of flowering age, they plowed them under as green manure. They also put up a vermicomposting section where they converted the kitchen leftovers from the company’s canteen as well as the vegetable wastes and other biomass available from the company’s premises.

Various crops, including non-vegetables were planted in the 2,400-square meter showcase. These include a little patch of rice, banana and Chokanan mango. Of course, the majority of the plants are new hybrids and a few indigenous ones. The indigenous ones include what the Ilocanos call “samsamping” or Clitorea ternatea which produces blue edible flowers and nutritious young pods.

So many ideas could be picked up from the showcase. Just like the series of different plants in one long bed. These include tomato, followed by eggplant, green onion, hot pepper, sweet pepper, etc.

In one place, one can see robust lettuce growing between sweet corn plants with developing ears. Others are a combination of oregano and tomato which are happy companions.

For lack of space, shown on this page are just a sampling of what can be learned from the Permaculture showcase. But we will write more about the interesting ideas which we can adopt in our own farming and gardening.