Let-tuce eat salad!

Let-tuce give this guy credit for making fancy lettuce varieties affordable, accessible and attractive to many Pinoys.

Arugula, red and green romaine, lollo rosa, red corals, red and green oakleaf and frellise, among others, used to command five-star hotel prices until entrepreneur Lyndon Tan came into the picture. In 2003, Tan, now known as the Philippine "Lettuce King," brought down the prices of this veggie from P400 to P70 a kilo. The 40-year-old farmer, a probinsyano who was born and raised in Bicol, one day thought of pioneering the commercial growing of lettuce that used to be imported from the US and Australia. It wasn’t a green joke – Lyndon was dead serious.

He introduced hydroponics farming at Basic Necessity, his eight-hectare farm in Silang, Cavite. Hydroponics is an advanced method of growing plants using coconut fibers and palay husks instead of soil. This technology not only enables the plant to produce more; it also yields larger fruits and flowers. Tan now harvests 1,800 kilos of lettuce every day, accounting for 80 percent of the total lettuce production in the Philippines.

Tan’s farm boasts of fully computerized green houses, where he virtually controls the environment. His efforts have not gone unnoticed. In 2002, he was named the "Farmer of the Year" by President Arroyo and was a TOYM awardee in 2003 for agriculture and food technology. 

Tan completed his primary to tertiary schooling in Naga City. He took up his master’s in Management at the Asian Institute of Management and trained in the Harvard Business School for Agribusiness.

"I wanted to include lettuce, which is very nutritious, in the daily diet of Filipinos," Tan says humbly. This dream is surely being realized with the introduction of his ready-to-eat, pre-packed lettuce in vacuum-sealed and triple-washed bags called "SaladTime," which are selling briskly in leading supermarkets and all MiniStop and 7-11 convenience stores.

Tan’s farm has made lettuce prices so affordable, even fast-food chains now include fresh salads in their menu. Tan also gives farm tours to students to further appreciate the benefits of lettuce in their diet and to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the technology he employs in his farm.

His "Basic Necessity" processing facility is the only one of its kind that is both halal and HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) certified to ensure world-class standards in hygiene and health sanitation. In fact, his processing area is located over a mile from the farm to comply with US standards.

The Department of Agriculture, recognizing the amazing breakthrough of Tan’s "SaladTime," picked his products to be showcased at the Japan Foodex, Asia’s largest food and beverage trade exposition for professionals in Chiba, Japan from March 14-17, 2006. 

Other countries might even be green with envy!

ADMU ’67, ’71, ’75 Blue Eagles fly home

The Ateneo GS ’67, HS ’71, Coll ’75 batch gave balikbayan Blue Eagles Dindo Barrios and Koyang Dris, both based in the United Sates, a true-blue welcome at the Manila Polo Club recently.

Now in their fifties, the batchmates soared to new heights (in blood pressure) as they treated Dindo and Koyang to an endless buffet of crispy pata.

Lovely at 80

A cause for celebration was the 80th birthday of Naty de Mesa-Sotto, my sister Valerie’s mother-in-law. Nanay Naty looks 20 years younger than she really is, a gift her children attribute to their mother’s disposition and her faithfulness to Pond’s cold cream! Her children pulled out all stops to make their mom’s "debut" at the BF Quezon City Club House an affair to remember, and truly it was!

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