The architect of soil

He graduated from an architecture course, but always was curious about the soil. He likes to get his hands dirty and was curious enough to let go of his cushy job to have a romance with the soil. This was in 2016, fresh from Japan, and itching to get to know more about farming.

Raphael “Raffy” Teraoka Dacones is fortunate to have studied kindergarten in Japan and that was where he first had gardening as a course in school. As we know, Japanese children get exposed to life skills early in life. But looking back, yes, he first loved the feel of soil and tinkered with planting vegetables at that tender age.

After college, he had the urge to do something else and leave city life. Though he was raised in Baguio City, he always wanted to be closer to nature by being a farmer. Luckily, his grandfather bought a property in Pangasinan where the old man planted many trees, as he wanted to retire amidst an orchard. Raffy then asked to use this land and experimented first on cherry tomatoes, and had a harvest of about 26 kilos. Excitedly, he went to the public market and all they offered him was P3.00 per kilo. He thought that was too little for all the effort he put in, so he looked for alternative markets. He turned to friends who agreed to buy them for P50/ kilo. That opened his eyes to niche markets – specialty, organic and discriminating customers. People cared that it was organic and that the tomatoes tasted good. Today the same tomatoes are sold at P250-P350/ kilo. And that is the real price of organic tomatoes, if you know the work involved in taking care of the soil. To Raffy, the soil and plant are one. It is the soil that allows the plants to give you different flavors. If you do not handle the soil well, even the best seeds will result in mediocre harvests.

His next big break was an order from a chain of restaurants for romaine lettuce. Even if he did not know how much it would take, he took the risk and accepted a purchase order. That made him learn more about processing vegetables, getting precious advice from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to be able to satisfy his new-found customer. And he did it. Ninety days later, even with a few rejects, he delivered. That gave him more confidence to expand his variety of vegetables, trying even cauliflower, kohlrabi and other temperate varieties. Yes, they may be smaller than high-grown vegetables, but he has a micro climate in humid Pangasinan because of his grandfather’s foresight to plant trees around the property.

His mantra: “Never give up.” Trial and error, YouTube school of farming and visits to other farms in Japan and New Zealand opened his eyes to new possibilities. He saw a Chinese kiwi farmer in New Zealand manage 200 hectares with the help of 50 Filipinos who come to help harvest. Most of these Filipinos come for a month, help at the farm and then leave again. They are called “homestays” or “farmstays.” That gave Raffy an idea to also invite students to come and help at his farm in Pangasinan, sometimes as part of TESDA or Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) courses these young kids take. Some of the graduates now also farm on their own and get their own purchase orders from Raffy, who consolidates their produce.

Over the years, Raffy tried planting many other varieties of vegetables and he also got introduced to Manila chefs who would even send their staff to his farm for immersion. These cooks and chefs would come back from the farmstay with a new found respect for agriculture in general. Knowing how vegetables grow and learning about the farmers’ work make them appreciate the produce in a different way.

Teraoka Farms is the first Certified Organic Farm in Region 1 and Raffy could not be prouder. He has always believed in regenerative agriculture, where the soil is the center of the farm. Early on, the “seeds” of organic farming and care for the soil were planted in this young Fil-Jap boy doing gardening in Japanese Kindergarten class. Over time, though he took up architecture in college, the farm would always call him back. So now he has combined these two areas of interest in his other venture – Soil Studio, where he integrates agriculture, design and sustainability so we can have more green spaces all over the country.

Now 39, Raffy is all the wiser about what to plant and where to plant various varieties he gets curious about. And for the past 10 years he has been an inspiration to the youth to get into organic farming and regenerative agriculture.

His tips for start-up farmers and gardeners:

Take care of your soil because the flavor of what you plant is generally affected by soil quality.

Use whatever is around you. Close the loop of circularity.  Make your own soil.

Start small. Make small mistakes and learn as you go along.

Anyone is welcome to visit the Teraoka farms in Mangatarem, Pangasinan and hopefully replicate this example of even making your own micro climate possible in places where we think it is too hot to grow vegetables. The secret is simple: plant trees and create a place cool enough for vegetables to grow.

Take it from Raffy. Anyone can fall in love with the soil and make it your medium to grow any food you want. The better the soil, the more flavorful your produce. He is indeed a soil architect, taking all the farm waste and returning it back to the earth. He has livestock to complete the formula and the right ecosystem for good food to grow in.

The secret is really in our soil. Take it from this soil architect.