Tour To Visit Organic Farm

ORGANIC FARM IN MAJAYJAY — The Costales Nature Farms will be visited by the participants of the AANI Farm Tour on Sunday, January 27.

Farm tours can be very educational for those who are interested in farming or gardening, whether it is just a backyard garden or an honest-to-goodness business enterprise.

On Sunday, January 27, one such farm tour will visit an award-winning farm in the cool mountain of Majayjay, Laguna. This is the Costales Nature Farms run by Ronald and Josie Costales.

Ronald is an engineer who used to be an executive in a communications firm, giving up a very high salary in favor of organic farming.

Today, his choice is paying off handsomely. He and the members of his family are enjoying the cool and unpolluted air in Majayjay where they produce tons and tons of high-value vegetables and many other products that they supply to selected customers in Metro Manila.

Ronald has won the Gawad Saka National Award and the Most Outstanding Organic Farmer Award in 2012. The Costales farm is also the first and only Agri-Tourism destination in the Philippines that is accredited by the Department of Tourism.

Among the saleable vegetables that the Costales farm is producing commercially are lettuce (different varieties), French beans, Japanese cucumber, red cabbage and more. Culinary herbs include sage, arugula, parsley, thyme, Italian oregano, rosemary and basil. Livestock include black pigs, rabbits, free-range chickens, Pekin duck and fish. 

During the AANI Farm Tour, Costales will conduct a lecture on the techniques they are implementing in the farm. These include the EM technology and vermiculture, bokashi fertilizer production and others.

 Visitors may also opt to stay for a few days. There are accommodation facilities, organic meals and spa. 

Those who are interested to join the AANI Farm Tour to the Costales farm should make their reservations at the AANI store at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City or at the AANI Weekend Market at the FTI in Taguig City.

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SM TRAINING FOR VEGGIE FARMERS – Toto Barcelona of Harbest Agribusiness tells us that the SM Foundation will train a total of 14 batches of farmers under the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Training program in different parts of the country.

These trainings, held in collaboration with Harbest Agribusiness, are usually held where there are SM Malls in the provinces. The 46th batch of trainees recently received their certificates of completion in Calamba City, Laguna.

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NATIONAL MANGO CONGRESS – Watch for the holding of the next National Mango Congress in Iba, Zambales. This will be on March 13-15. This will coincide with the holding of Mango Festival in the province. The Zambales mango growers’ association is headed by Evelyn A. Grace.

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MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE – We just had the most pleasant surprise in our blogging life. Last January 13, a total of 1,964 page viewers visited our site. That’s our biggest so far. We usually get more than a thousand visitors every day, however. Log on to: www.agrizaccess.com [1] for practical farming tips, ideas and interesting agri-people.