The voice of the next generation

Dionie Baucas is 32 years old. A member of the Igorot people from the northern Philippine island of Luzon. His small farm in the province of Benguet produces potatoes, Baguio beans, peas, strawberries, cabbage, lettuce, and carrots. Dionie was only 23 when his father died. As the oldest of five children, he was expected to take over the running of the farm.

Dionie (left) with his uncle, Amado.

"Although I'd worked on the farm my whole life, I felt totally out of my depth" he says now.

"I didn't want to be a farmer forever. To be honest, I even felt ashamed of being a farmer. I dreamed that one day I'd move to the city and become successful. Suddenly, I had to stop dreaming and start thinking about how to do the right thing by my family."

Dionie's feelings were similar to those of many young farmers in the Philippines, given the low status of farming in that country. "My father was poor, my grandfather was poor. I couldn't see myself doing anything other than taking that same path."

Dionie grows a range of crops including strawberries, beans and carrots.

But since that uncertain time nine years ago, both Dionie's situation and his outlook on life have changed significantly. He now has a wife and two young children, and he's much more positive about their future - thanks to his involvement with Bukkid Buddies.

"I remember seeing the Bukid Buddies stall at our local market here in Benguet" he recounts. "I was suspicious about them at first. They were talking about their subscription service, where they would transport produce from our farms directly to Manila and deliver it directly to people's houses there. They talked about cutting out the middleman and giving us farmers a better deal - it sounded good but we worried there was some trap in it for us."

"I sold double what I'd expected in those first months."

Building trust was a slow process. Bukid Buddies offered to guarantee farmers their first three months of income from using the service, regardless of how much product was actually sold. This was enough to get a small group of farmers on board - including Dionie. In the end, they didn't need the guarantee."I sold close to double what I'd expected in those first months" he says, "much more than what I could have sold in the local markets. I turned out, if you offer city people fresh fruit and vegetables at a good price, there's a lot of demand for that!"

The drive from Benguet to Metro Manila takes about six hours. Too far for small operators like Dionie to travel, meaning they couldn't hope to tap that huge market without relying on middlemen, who would take too much of the profit. That was the big difference made by the Farm-to-You service. Using a middleman, Dionie might sell a cabbage for 3 pesos, but it would be sold on at 25 pesos. With Bukid Buddies, subscribers can buy that same cabbage for 20 pesos, and half of that goes back to Dionie. It's a better deal at both ends.

With the extra income coming in, Dionie is making plans to expand his farm. "I feel differently about farming now" he says, "and I think my children will too."