Lazy Juan’s Organic Farming For Pinoys – The More You Think, The More You Earn!

Main image above: On Facebook, Felipe Gabrielclaims planting rice “Achieving More With Less!“ 15 tons/ha. Applying: 20 bags processed chicken manure, rice straw from last cropping season, spraying IMO Probiotics at tillering, booting & milking stages; zero petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides. Inbred rice, System of Rice Intensification (SRI), in Sulop, Davao Del Sur.

Here is our exchange on Facebook:

Frank A Hilario
I can beat that if somebody will finance 1 ha… no fertilizers, no compost, no manures, no probiotics!

Felipe Gabriel
Frank A Hilario Wow, breakthrough Yan sir!
Subukan natin sir yang technology mo! Sa Aking sariling farm.

Mr Gabriel’s farm is in Paniqui, Tarlac, and hereby I accept his challenge. This is an outline of my

Lazy Juan’s Organic Farming
(Above, superimposed image taken 12 July 2016, my blanket having composed itself into a lazy human! posterized)

Strict instructions (actually practiced by someone in Asingan, Pangasinan):

Step 1.     Preparing:
Harvest crop, take out of field. Leave crop refuse; don’t burn. Don’t weed either: the weedier, the better. The secret is in the weeds! After Step 2, they will start decaying into fertilizer.

Step 2.     Rotavating.
Use tractor with rotavator or rototiller blades – not plow. Set blades to cut down to only 2-3 inches of topsoil, not deeper. Thus: Soil, crop refuse and weeds will be cut into pieces and mixed in one rotary motion – giving you a surface mulch all over 10,000 sqm (1 ha)! Lazy Juan’s rotavating is automatic mulching.

Step 3.     Direct seeding.
Plant inbred rice seeds directly, 25 x 25 cm. Before planting, string out distances for planting uniformly – or use a mechanical seeder. So, zero cost: nursery bed preparation, women pulling seedlings for transplanting, men transplanting.

Step 4.     Side seeding.
On the same day you plant the seeds, you will sow a few seeds below the dikes, for replanting any missing hills later; this is to ensure that all seedlings will mature simultaneously.

Step 5.     Replanting missing hills.
Inspect the field everyday for at least 1 week after planting, to replant any dead or missing hills – in case.

Step 6.     Irrigation.
With your ricefield covered with mulch that is slowly rotting and becoming organic fertilizer in-place every day from Step 2, the soil will be moist enough for the rice to grow. In case the soil gets dry, be ready to irrigate for a day.

Step 7.     Field Care & Watching.
No fertilizing – that surface mulch is the richest fertilizer ever! Visit ricefield weekly to check on the seedlings growing. Do not spray against any pest or disease organism; since your rice plants are rich in nutrients from the soil, they are healthy and can withstand any pest or disease attack.

Step 8.     Harvesting.
Use a rice combine to minimize loss of grains.

Step 9.     Postharvest Handling.
Get a mechanical dryer – never dry on public roads!

Step 10.  Storage.
Store dried rice properly. Your coop should have a storage facility.

Step 11.  Marketing.
Your cooperative should do it for you.

Happier farming, healthier food, higher income!@517