This document summarizes how a small community in the Philippines called GoodFoodCommunity supports small family farmers through sustainable agriculture practices. It discusses how modern agriculture contributes to climate change but small-scale organic farming is more sustainable. GoodFoodCommunity connects citizens to buy produce directly from farmers, ensuring a stable income for farmers while practicing environmentally-friendly techniques. The community model of smallholder farmers and engaged citizens creates wins for farmers, consumers, and the environment through organic agriculture and building relationships.

1. Supporting Small Family Farmers &
Addressing Climate Change
Takes a Community
by Justine C. Tajonera
Assignment 3.1: How To Change The World,
Wesleyan University via Coursera.org

2. What do I know?
• Agriculture in the Philippines
employs 32% of the workforce
(World Bank, 2014)
• It accounts for 12% of the GDP
(WB, 2013)
• The Philippines is the 8th
largest rice producer in the
world and contributes 2.8% of
the world’s rice production
(FAO of the U.N. 2009)
• And yet it was one of the
biggest rice importers in 2010
(Reuters, Jan. 28, 2011)
Attribution of rice fields image from Cagayan Province: Wikimedia Commons, uploaded by Daniel Mietchen

3. The losers: small-scale farmers
• In the Philippines, The
poorest of the poor are
the indigenous peoples,
small-scale farmers
who cultivate land
received through
agrarian reform,
landless workers,
fishers, people in
upland areas and
women. (Source:
ruralpovertyportal.org)
Attribution of rural poor image from Cagayan Province: Ppgis.net Blog

4. Modern Agriculture: increases CO2
levels; also vulnerable to Climate Change
• Tilling the soil (using
modern agricultural
methods) releases 832
metric tons per acre of
CO2 in tropical countries
(source: video lecture 3.1, Barry
Chernoff, College of Environment,
Wesleyan University)
• Changes in
temperature, amount
of carbon dioxide
(CO2), and the
frequency and
intensity of extreme
weather could have
significant impacts on
crop yields. (source: http://
www.epa.gov/climatechange/
impacts-adaptation/
agriculture.html)
Attribution of tillage image: commons.wikimedia.org

5. What did I do?
• I applied to be a stakeholder at
GoodFoodCommunity.com,
a small community of Filipinos
who invest in buying organic
produce from smallholder
farmers to ensure that they have
an income while they practice
organic farming.
• I buy organic vegetables (Bayong
Pambahay or house basket and
the salad pack) in advance (12
weeks) to support farmers and I
will continue to do so.
Attribution of image: GoodFoodCommunity.com

6. The Formula for Sustainability
• According to
GoodFoodCommunity.com,
this is the formula:
• Smallholder organic
farmers + enlightened
citizens = Sustainable
Community
• The plus sign is
relationship.
• I couldn’t agree more.
Attribution of image: GoodFoodCommunity.com

7. Everybody wins
• Every Wednesday, we
pick up our fresh,
seasonal vegetables from
a local hub.
• We enjoy good health, the
farmers are assured of
income as they practice
organic farming, and the
environment does not
suffer because organic
farming techniques do no
release as much CO2 as
modern agriculture does.
Image: my son, B, helping me pick up our Bayong Pambahay from a local hub, Edgy Veggy restaurant
in Mandaluyong City

8. Relationship
• Relationship is the
glue that holds
everything together.
• We are in contact
with the organizer,
our friendly
“gulay” (vegetable)
fairy, Drei, and we
have the opportunity
to visit the farm and
meet the farmers.
Image: my kids, B and C, enjoying a night of music as we participated in a Food and Music Festival
called Foodstock organized by Good Food Community. We also met the farmers from Tarlac who
served at the organic vegetable buffet.

9. Small is Beautiful
“Wisdom demands a new orientation
of science and technology toward the
organic, the gentle, the elegant and
beautiful.”
“The real problems of our planet are
not economic or technical, they are
philosophical. The philosophy of
unbridled materialism is being
challenged by events.”
• ― E.F. Schumacher, Small Is
Beautiful: Economics as if People
Mattered