A Brave New World

It's 2 am. I should probably be asleep by now to get up early at dawn for my WSQ Landscape Operation course which has just resumed this week. Under the cosy warm effect from a glass of Waipara Valley 2009 Pinot Noir, my body should be comfortably conditioned to mellow down for shut eye. Yet my mind's occupied by loads of afterthoughts, was simply just zest up-inspired and fascinated.

Earlier at prime time, i had just caught a good feature documentary on our local Channel 8 about Gen Y Farmers. How apt..since i had just finished a fruitful day mingering with soil and plants at Sun Plaza Park in Tampines Central. This goes along nicely with all the exchange between students and lecturer about our current landscape industry, which in spite of all the hype and rave about Gardens by the Bay- the industry's wages, labour and manpower issues is demographically in the dumps, plagued by some policies that begs to be looked into. Do you smell bullshit? Along with construction, it seems headed for the sunset with a thumping Bangladesh jingle to accompany the end credits, since our local contractors pretty much have no one else to hire besides our hardworking friends for SGD$600 or lesser..who can outwork any other locals- in this case mostly old cowboys retiree uncles. What's worse, many towkays actually prefer to hire Banglas, since they can exploit them and get to go shopping for another white Mercedes sooner. Singaporeans they find, have too much reservations and complains. Even if levies increase, the contractors will still have their tricks. Tenders go for the cheapest quote, contractors also try to squeeze more balls. Gahmen don't care..continue to invite more over to increase productivity.

Anyway let's get back on track. The docu featured two local boys of my generation who took over their family's agriculture business Quanfa Organic Farm in Murai and are doing some incredible work as third generation farmers. How fortunate they are to be born children of farmers, children of the earth. I often wish i was a kampung boy who could return somewhere to do this. I was very glad and inspired to know there are some like-minded folks out there who are all about roots. As modern agrarian advocates, Max Liao 32 and his younger brother have been rather successful in revamping their parent's agriculture practice into a fully sustainable operation built upon what i feel is a rather impressive business model in sync with the market. Having identified the fast growing demand for organic food among health aficionados, old methods were improved with a compost system from Japan which uses a unique culturing medium to eliminate the obnoxious odors of raw materials to produce a nutrient rich organic debris; which deters the rate of damage caused by disease infection & insect infestation. This compost is used throughout the farm to condition dead soil back to its nature state, which will in turn enhance & stimulate plants growth. With the improvement in the soil activity, their vegetables are produced without the usage of synthetic pesticides & chemical fertilizers. Dedicating themselves to the back breaking work of harvesting the vegetables early in the morning for distribution, the brothers have further personalize their business by conducting veg tours, talks, workshops as well as offer healthy culinary advice and alternative recipes.

I understand there's nothing new about this locally...over the last decade or so, some like Mrs Ivy Singh of Bollywood Veggies, the spirited folks at Kranji Countryside and Lai Hock from Ground-Up Initiatives have championed these worthy eco initiatives and causes to bring people together to connect with Mother Nature, and have a greater appreciation for the earth, and the food on our table. But this is not meant to be perceived as some fad or trend. This is here to stay. This is Life on Earth. Max was motivated to bring it to an educational level when he recalls how a friend's young daughter was asked where the vegetable she eats come from, her answer was that it comes from the supermarket. How sad. I mean it's true, i'm not sure about you but i constantly think about my food..not just about the way it's prepared, presentation etc, i deeply appreciate the whole process and cycle each item has undergone before it is finally placed before me.

Brings me back to my first day lesson at CUGE (Centre of Urban Greenery) when we were confronted by this truth: We (Human Beings) will not be here and would cease to exist if not for plants. Think about this- Potato, Rice, Wheat, Maize- the world's 4 largest food crops that have kept all of us alive through the entire civilization of mankind are all plants. Grass which feed our cattle friends who become our meat source are plants. Trees which supply us of oxygen and by their own capacity are the only beings on earth which produce their own food through photosynthesis-can exist without us selfish pricks. And what about the great Coffee bean, the Cacao bean, Tea leaves, Tobacco, all the exotic spices and herbs in this part of our world that makes our food delicious. What about Oil Palms and Coconut Palms? We live in their world. They were all here before we did. It is only by our imagination and intelligence that we are able to dominate the eco system, and by the very same prowess upset the balance, and destroy it.

I don't understand my fellow Singaporeans who seems bent on wanting to see trees in their residential neighborhood pruned to death or ruthless chainsaw their branches. And then they blame it on the birds..on their droppings and the sounds they make.

Farmers deserve RESPECT. Urbanites are just full of shit.