What we admire about the way Pat Acosta goes about his organic farming is that he makes his techniques of growing healthy vegetables very simple and very doable.
Pat Acosta is the Gawad Saka Organic Farmer of 2010 who operates a very profitable sloping farm of just 3,000 square meters in La Trinidad, Benguet. As a result of his simple techniques, his cost of production is very minimal.
SIMPLE COMPOSTING TECHNIQUE — Pat Acosta produces all the organic fertilizers that he uses in his farm. He shreds grasses that are gathered around his farm, mix 10 percent seaweeds in volume to reinforce the nutrients from the grass materials. He makes his own IMO or indigenous microorganism concoction to hasten the decomposition of his composting material. He sprays his IMO to his dried composting material, let the same stay uncovered under a roof for two weeks. After that the compost which is not totally decomposed is incorporated in the planting bed. Some are also used as mulch.
In fact, he says that the only things he spends for, except the labor of his two assistants (he calls them his partners), are the seeds and plastic trays that he uses in germinating the seedlings.
Pat produces organic salad vegetables that include different varieties of lettuce, arugula, cherry tomato, cherry radish, sugar snap peas, Japanese cucumber and culinary herbs.
What is also admirable about him is that he does not keep secrets in growing his healthy vegetables. He teaches other growers his very simple techniques.
One technique that is very simple and doable is his way of preparing his own concoction of IMO or indigenous microorganisms that he uses in decomposing his organic fertilizer and in spraying his seedlings. Other people have a complicated way of preparing their own IMOs. Some put cooked rice in the forest to catch the molds and then multiply them using milk, molasses and other processes.
In the case of Pat, he simply gets a tablespoon of forest soil, add to it a tablespoon of brown sugar and then put the same in a liter of water in an open container. He then lets this stand under the roof for three days. After three days, he mixes 250 ml (one-fourth liter) of his concoction with 16 liters of water and sprays this on the shredded dried grasses that he converts into organic fertilizer.
His composting materials are thoroughly sprayed with the mixture and allowed to stand without any cover in a roofed place. After two weeks, he can already use his compost in his garden plots. He explains that he does not use fully decomposed compost. Why? Because if he does, the nutrients in the fully decomposed compost will be absorbed by the plants very fast and he would be obliged to apply some more during the growing cycle.
When his not-so-well decomposed organic fertilizer is incorporated in the soil, the nutrients will be made available for a longer period. It is just like a slow-release fertilizer. He points out that in the forest, there are well decomposed leaves and there are just decomposing leaves. That’s how he justifies his practice.
Sometimes, he uses his undecomposed compost as mulch for his crops. Eventually, the decomposing mulch will become food for his plants.
He admits that the compost from the grasses that he gathers around his farm does not contain complete nutrients for the proper growth of his crops. He has a very simple solution for this. He incorporates seaweeds at the rate of 10 percent in volume to his composting materials.
He has also a very simple way of marketing his harvests that he developed through the years. He has a distributor in Manila that pays him the same price for his products throughout the whole year. No price fluctuations. That way, he has a steady cash flow.
He sends to his buyer 50 to 60 kilos of veggies, mostly lettuce plus smaller amounts of cherry radish, Japanese cucumber, cherry tomatoes, sugar beet and arugula twice a week. Pat makes at least P10,000 to P12,000 a week from his deliveries. That’s more than enough to keep body and soul practically problem-free. After all, he only has two workers whom he calls his partners and they are paid well. They receive more than the basic pay set by the law and they also get a bonus whenever they have attained their target sales for the month.
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