If the Philippines had its own version of Modern Farmer magazine, Cherrie Atilano would be on the cover of an issue. She’s the founder of a social enterprise called AGREA, whose goals are to help eradicate poverty for farming and fishing families, alleviate the effects of climate change and help establish food security in the Philippines. That’s a lot for even the biggest organizations! So how does a young Filipina farmer even begin to address those challenges?
Cherrie’s story is equal parts thrilling and educational - and totally entwined with the greater story of Philippine agriculture.
Show notes
01:10 Young Filipino farmers
04:50 Building a "one-island economy"
05:50 3 pillars of AGREA
09:00 What agriculture looks like today
10:05 "I found my purpose"
10:55 Dad's wisdom in salt
11:30 Why a farmer's life is like a period and a comma
14:20 Growing up on a sugarcane farm
16:30 How a book on gardening changed everything
19:55 "I did not want to be a doctor"
20:30 Learning agriculture
21:30 Moving to Manila
23:00 Starting the Gawad Kalinga Enchanted Farm
24:05 Inspiration behind AGREA
25:30 Life on an island
28:00 Creating an "ecology of dignity"
32:45 Developing values, technical skills and financial literacy
36:50 AGREA in action
40:15 "We're all in this together"
43:25 Training agri-preneurs
44:50 The garden classroom
46:35 Resilient kids
48:45 Lessons from a 10 year old
FIND THE FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE.
Links for this episode
Learn more about AGREA's programs here.
Watch Cherrie's talk on "How to make farming cool for young people" at the EAT Asia-Pacific Food Forum.
Follow Cherrie on Instagram @farmerpinay!