By Adrian H. Halili, Reporter
SPECIALTY vegetables and herb growers Down to Earth said it is seeking to enhance agricultural practices through regenerative farming methods.
“Regenerative agriculture is a growing practice that centers mostly on soil building,” Nicolo Aberasturi, founder and owner of Down to Earth, told BusinessWorld.
Mr. Aberasturi added that his practice focuses on using ruminant animals to boost soil health.
“We use ruminant animals to cycle the supposed to be weeds or grass in the farm.,” he said. “You are actually adding, building up your soil.”
He added that grass or weeds that are normally growing in farms would be fed to animals like pigs or cattle, while their manure fertilizes the soil.
Regenerative agriculture is also a means of improving water quality and biodiversity.
“Even (organic farming) can destroy the structure of the soil even if there are no chemicals used,” he said.
“Every time you damage the soil, you deplete the soil structure and the quality of the minerals in the soil that plants need,” he added.
The effects of soil degradation in the Philippines have led to loss of productive topsoil through water erosion, declining soil fertility due to over-cultivation, and reduced vegetation cover due to illegal logging, according to the Bureau of Soils and Water Management.
Mr. Aberasturi said that crops grown using regenerative practices are “more complete in minerals.”
He added the Down to Earth mainly focuses on the growing of specialty vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers, targeting hotels and restaurant owners serving farm to table cuisine.
Down to Earth also sells grass fed beef and other meats from its farms in Tanauan, Batangas, and Dahilayan, Bukidnon. It also operates a physical store in Mandaluyong.
He said that the business also does small-scale bottling and canning.
“Let’s say, we have an excess of tomatoes, what we do is that we make them into sauce or sun dry them. This is so that the excess is not wasted, and we sell them already bottled,” he said.
Additionally, Mr. Aberasturi said that Down to Earth also trains farmers on regenerative farming methods.
“We are seeing a window of opportunity, and we want to share the technology to other small farms that are just starting,” he said.
He added that repurposing excess harvest for animal feed will reduce post-harvest losses.
“If they have the technology, the excess vegetables we see or read about in the news that are rotting (can be used as) animal feed instead,” he said.
