Next Generation Grower

In Bauan, Batangas, Jezrel Palacio Carreon’s Talong & Ampalaya farm stands as proof that Philippine agriculture can thrive through innovation and dedication. With three decades of farming experience, Jezrel turned down opportunities in San Francisco and Bahrain to build a six-hectare operation that survived multiple typhoons while neighboring farms collapsed. His secret lies not just in galvanized wire trellises or strategic bed preparation, but in treating farming as both an art and a business. From producing five to seven tons of bitter gourd per harvest on just 1.2 hectares to generating 200 tons of eggplant over 17 months, Jezrel’s numbers tell a compelling story. But beyond the mathematics of agriculture, his journey from Zamboanga to Batangas during the pandemic, his innovative partnership with landowners, and his commitment to sharing knowledge on social media reveal a farmer who embodies what Philippine agriculture could become: professional, profitable, and proudly Filipino.

“If someone else in the world like the growers in the Philippines would benefit from this research, that would be a bonus—a big bonus!” When Dr. Bernard Kratky spoke these words, he never imagined his simple hydroponics method would spark a revolution across the Philippine archipelago. A retired University of Hawaii researcher, Dr. Kratky developed his suspended pot, non-circulating system to address Hawaii’s agricultural challenges—weeds, nematodes, soil diseases, and expensive farmland. He published his findings to share with local growers and academic institutions, never envisioning that his work would travel across the Pacific to transform food production in a nation facing remarkably similar tropical challenges.

Today, from Metro Manila rooftops to rural Visayan gardens, Filipino growers are discovering that producing fresh, nutritious vegetables doesn’t require expensive equipment, reliable electricity, or extensive agricultural training. The Kratky Method, as it’s now known worldwide, demands only a bucket, water, nutrients, and the willingness to try something new. This is the story of how one scientist’s generosity—freely sharing his expired patents and creating YouTube tutorials in retirement—empowered Filipinos to reclaim their food security, one container at a time. It’s a tale of viral social media, scientific humility, and the democratization of agriculture in a country where innovation has become necessity.

Where the Beach Meets the Greenhouse

When guests at Palm Beach Resort in Batangas order a salad, kitchen staff don’t reach for the phone to call a supplier. They walk outside. Twenty meters later, they’re standing in a greenhouse, harvesting lettuce that will be on a plate within minutes. This is farm-to-table at its purest—built during the pandemic when materials were scarce, sustained by determination when challenges arose, and now serving as one of the resort’s most compelling attractions.

But this hydroponic greenhouse, constructed in 2021 by managing head Ramil Mendoza and operations associate Rica De La Torre, faced a puzzling decline. The lettuce that once grew abundantly began to struggle. Heads shrank. Roots thickened. The team tried everything—switching methods, adjusting nutrients, removing pest-attracting plants—yet couldn’t recapture that initial success. The answer, it turned out, was invisible: dissolved oxygen levels had dropped, forcing plants into survival mode rather than thriving.

Along Batangas’ coastline, Palm Beach Resort is demonstrating that environmental stewardship and exceptional guest experiences aren’t just compatible—they’re inseparable.

In Nagcarlan, Laguna, Roger Coronado is rebuilding more than just his typhoon-damaged greenhouse. The Lettuce Hut represents the heart of Nagcarlan Hydroponics, a cooperative founded in 2022 where farmers refuse to compete with each other. Instead, they share customers, knowledge, and harvests. With engineered resilience built into every galvanized post and a philosophy borrowed from nursing school, Roger’s approach combines technical precision with community values. Here, members screen for character over capital, hygrometers are mandatory, and the collective strength has earned them the nickname ‘the mafia’—in the best possible way.”

https://youtu.be/egFpCVlh6qQ?si=dV4IyqJaxaMWi9fw “The quality of our dragon fruits here in the Philippines has yet to be seen in other countries.” – Kevin Eliscupides It’s a bold claim, but Kevin Eliscupides has the numbers to back it up. With Brix scores ranging from 18 to 22—far exceeding international standards—the dragon fruits growing in the rolling hills of

From Business Graduate to Seedling Success

Ten years ago, Inefe Pagasian made an unlikely leap into agriculture with no farming background. Today, her Golden Ivan Seedling Nursery—named after her son—serves farmers across Calabarzon, Bicol, and Northern Luzon, producing seedlings in facilities that can accommodate 3,000 trays simultaneously.
The transition wasn’t easy. As a Business and Office Management graduate turned full-time mother, Pagasian had to master everything from plant propagation to greenhouse management from scratch. Her secret? Patience, persistence, and continuous learning.

“The single most important lesson I’ve learned is patience,” she reflects. In a business where seedlings take 25 to 28 days to reach market readiness, success cannot be rushed. Through crop failures, order cancellations, and the ups and downs of seasonal demand, Pagasian pushed forward—proving that entrepreneurial spirit can flourish in any field, even without traditional agricultural credentials.

From Engineer to Hydroponic Farmer: A Part-Time Passion That Grew
In a quiet village in Angat, Bulacan, Aldrin Castro stands before two greenhouses sheltering nearly 600 heads of pristine Olmetie lettuce. “This hydroponics is more of a hobby or a part-time job,” he says—though the scale and sophistication of The Green Cup Hydroponics tells a different story entirely.
By day, Castro works as a computer engineer in the IT industry. By dawn and dusk, he’s transformed into a precision farmer, applying his technical mindset to agriculture with remarkable results. His 37-day harvest cycles yield robust lettuce at 35 pesos per cup, generating approximately 20,000 pesos gross per harvest from his 48-square-meter greenhouse.
What began as a modest ten-by-ten-foot DIY structure has evolved into a 120,000-peso bolted-frame greenhouse featuring NFT (Nutrient Film Technique) systems, sophisticated irrigation controlled by threaded valves, and monitoring equipment that guides every decision. Castro wakes at 5:30 AM to check pH levels and TDS readings before his 10 AM shift, managing the entire operation solo—sowing, transplanting, harvesting, and packing—all while working full-time.
His secret? Engineering discipline meets agricultural passion. Castro researches obsessively, learns from online hydroponic communities, and implements lessons before problems arise. He hardens seedlings under controlled indoor grow lights before outdoor transplanting, alternates plant sizes for optimal sunlight penetration, and maintains strategic relationships with both direct customers and resellers to spread market risk.
“I read about other people’s problems even before I experience them myself,” Castro explains, embodying the proactive mindset that’s turned his “part-time hobby” into a thriving agricultural enterprise—and a blueprint for how technical expertise can revolutionize traditional farming.RetryAother title, no colonThe Computer Engineer Growing 600 Lettuce Heads Before His Day Job Begins
In a quiet village in Angat, Bulacan, Aldrin Castro stands before two greenhouses sheltering nearly 600 heads of pristine Olmetie lettuce. “This hydroponics is more of a hobby or a part-time job,” he says—though the scale and sophistication of The Green Cup Hydroponics tells a different story entirely.
By day, Castro works as a computer engineer in the IT industry. By dawn and dusk, he’s transformed into a precision farmer, applying his technical mindset to agriculture with remarkable results. His 37-day harvest cycles yield robust lettuce at 35 pesos per cup, generating approximately 20,000 pesos gross per harvest from his 48-square-meter greenhouse.
What began as a modest ten-by-ten-foot DIY structure has evolved into a 120,000-peso bolted-frame greenhouse featuring NFT (Nutrient Film Technique) systems, sophisticated irrigation controlled by threaded valves, and monitoring equipment that guides every decision. Castro wakes at 5:30 AM to check pH levels and TDS readings before his 10 AM shift, managing the entire operation solo—sowing, transplanting, harvesting, and packing—all while working full-time.
His secret? Engineering discipline meets agricultural passion. Castro researches obsessively, learns from online hydroponic communities, and implements lessons before problems arise. He hardens seedlings under controlled indoor grow lights before outdoor transplanting, alternates plant sizes for optimal sunlight penetration, and maintains strategic relationships with both direct customers and resellers to spread market risk.
“I read about other people’s problems even before I experience them myself,” Castro explains, embodying the proactive mindset that’s turned his “part-time hobby” into a thriving agricultural enterprise—and a blueprint for how technical expertise can revolutionize traditional farming.

In a gleaming facility in the Philippines, where double-walled glass seals out the tropical heat and HEPA filters scrub the air cleaner than a hospital operating room, something remarkable is growing. Engineers who once manufactured electronics are now applying that same precision to cultivating strawberries, and the results are stunning.

Yumex Philippine Corporation, a company with roots stretching back to 1991 as an electronics manufacturer, has pivoted from assembling circuit boards and components to cultivating precision agriculture. It’s a transition that might seem improbable until you step inside their facility and witness how manufacturing discipline translates to farming excellence.

That heritage of precision manufacturing is evident everywhere. The facility operates like a cleanroom, because it essentially is one. Visitors undergo a rigorous decontamination process: changing shoes twice, donning full clean room suits, passing through two separate air showers, and using sticky rollers to remove any lint before entering the cultivation areas.

Cleanliness and Safety Protocols
The Yumex facility maintains pharmaceutical-grade cleanliness standards that set it apart from conventional agricultural operations. As visible in the facility images, every person entering the growing areas must follow strict protocols designed to prevent contamination. The multi-stage decontamination process isn’t just theater—it’s essential to maintaining the pristine environment that allows crops to thrive without pesticides or disease.

Visitors and staff alike don complete cleanroom attire, including full-body suits, hairnets, masks, and gloves before proceeding through air shower chambers. The images show the meticulous gowning area where proper sequence instructions are displayed on the walls, and the blue air shower chambers where powerful jets of filtered air remove any remaining particles. Staff members can be seen using lint rollers as a final step before entering the cultivation zones, demonstrating the uncompromising attention to detail.

HEPA filtration systems continuously clean the air, removing particles, potential pathogens, and pests before they can enter the growing environment. This sealed, controlled approach eliminates the need for chemical pesticides entirely, resulting in produce that’s not only faster-growing but also cleaner and safer for consumption. The same discipline that once ensured zero-defect electronics manufacturing now guarantees contamination-free food production.

These rigorous safety protocols extend to every aspect of operations, from water treatment through reverse osmosis to the continuous circulation systems that prevent bacterial growth in nutrient tanks. It’s a level of care typically reserved for semiconductor fabrication or pharmaceutical production, now applied to growing strawberries and lettuce.

The Brain Behind the Operation
At the heart of the system is a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) developed by Yumex, a sophisticated “brain” that manages every environmental variable with the finesse of a master conductor. Temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide levels, pH, electrical conductivity, vapor pressure deficit—all monitored and adjusted automatically in real-time.

“It’s a friendly user,” Andrew explains, demonstrating the touch-screen interface. “Just like your mobile phone can be used for this PLC type.”

But the simplicity of the interface belies the complexity of what it controls. The system manages nutrient dosing with precision down to four-second intervals, circulates water continuously through sealed tanks to prevent pathogen growth, and even controls when honeybees emerge from their hives to pollinate the strawberry flowers, all through manipulation of temperature and UV light.
The transition from manufacturing circuit boards to growing strawberries might seem radical, but the underlying principles remain remarkably similar. Both require precise environmental control, contamination prevention, systematic quality monitoring, and data-driven optimization. The company’s decades of experience in mass production and capital investment in automation created the perfect foundation for controlled environment agriculture.

Speed and Quality
The results are striking. Lettuce that would take 80 days to mature outdoors reaches harvest size in just 30 days. Two-week-old seedlings already display vibrant, healthy leaves that would be the envy of any conventional farmer.

But it’s the strawberries that truly showcase what precision agriculture can achieve. Massive, aromatic fruits hang from plants bathed in carefully calibrated LED lighting—combinations of white and yellow bulbs (the yellow discourages insects), with some lights incorporating UV, infrared, and full-spectrum wavelengths all in one unit. These LED systems have been refined over 15 years of use in Japan.
The strawberries themselves, the Benihoppe variety, are extraordinary. The texture is described as “like butter,” with a perfect balance of sweetness and tartness that sets them apart from conventional varieties.

Controlled Everything
The facility’s enclosed greenhouse system maintains a completely different environment from the outside world. Double-walled glass provides insulation. Reverse osmosis filtration strips raw well water of heavy metals and minerals before nutrient solutions are precisely added back. Even the distribution pipes are mounted overhead to avoid obstructing movement.

“We try to control the environment itself,” Andrew explains. “That’s why we have to be very careful to use the whole enclosure to make it sealed.”
This control extends to managing vapor pressure deficit, a critical but often overlooked parameter that determines how efficiently plants transpire moisture from roots to leaves. Get it wrong, and nutrient deficiencies follow. Get it right, as Yumex has, and plants thrive with remarkable vigor.

Innovation in Practice
What sets Yumex apart is their engineering mindset applied to agriculture. The team is constantly testing and refining. Different LED configurations illuminate different shelf levels as they optimize light intensity and spectrum. New seedling batches are introduced alongside mature plants to demonstrate that the system can handle mixed-age cultivation—something traditional farmers typically avoid.

The approach to nutrient management reveals this engineering precision. Rather than fixating on EC or TDS numbers as absolutes, the system calculates the total quantity of nutrients delivered to plants over time. “Even if it has a small EC,” Andrew explains, “the percentage of giving the plants itself is more.”

It’s an insight that comes from thinking like a manufacturer rather than a conventional farmer—focusing on the total input over time rather than concentration at any given moment.

The Human Element
Perhaps most remarkable is the team’s humility. These manufacturing engineers readily admit they don’t know traditional farming, but that’s precisely their advantage. Unburdened by conventional agricultural assumptions, they approach cultivation as an engineering problem to be solved through measurement, control, and iteration.

Despite achieving strawberries that would be the pride of any farm, they describe themselves as still in the research and development phase, still pushing boundaries, still seeking 200% certainty before commercial deployment.

“We are on 100% stage as of the moment,” Andrew says, “but to make it sure and to give more assurance to our prospective clients, we wanted to make it 200%.”
It’s this combination—manufacturing precision, engineering innovation, and scientific rigor applied to agriculture—that may represent the future of farming. As one observer noted after touring the facility, “It’s not just the agriculturist that’s important to the cultivation industry. These three brilliant engineers, it’s gonna make a huge difference.”

The Path Ahead
Yumex’s success raises important questions about the future of Philippine agriculture. The facility demonstrates that with proper environmental control, crops like strawberries, traditionally grown only in cooler highland regions, can be cultivated year-round in controlled environments closer to urban markets.
The technology isn’t just for strawberries. The same PLC systems have been tested on bananas, leafy greens, and other crops. The modular, customizable nature of the doser systems means farmers can precisely tailor nutrition to specific crops and growth stages.

For a country where engineers often seek opportunities abroad, Yumex represents a different possibility—one where advanced technical skills find application in revolutionizing domestic agriculture. As the team continues refining their systems, they’re not just growing strawberries. They’re cultivating a new model for how precision engineering and agriculture can merge to create something greater than either discipline alone could achieve.

The strawberries, buttery-textured and perfectly sweet-tart, are just the delicious proof of concept.

A farm visit to CLA Farm in Rizal, Laguna reveals the ambitious journey of Clarence, a young electrical engineer who traded circuit boards for cultivation beds.

“As an engineer, it’s technical, there’s data. I went to hydroponics. It’s more of a controlled environment. When you make mistakes, you’ll know why.”
— Clarence, 27, Founder of CLA Farm

The greenhouse stands tall in Rizal, Laguna—elevated, expansive, and engineered with precision. Inside, 7,000 plant sites await their first crop, organized in neat NFT channels and innovative “Christmas tree” vertical systems. This is CLA Farm, the ambitious venture of Clarence, a 27-year-old electrical engineer who’s betting big on hydroponic agriculture.

From Gaming to Growing
By day, Clarence works in game marketing for a BGC company. His favorite game? Valorant. But his real passion project unfolds in this 150-square-meter greenhouse, where his engineering mindset meets agricultural innovation. When asked what drew him to farming, Clarence reflects on his career journey from electrical engineering to business. His initial foray into traditional agriculture—growing peppers and string beans—left him frustrated with uncontrollable variables. As someone who thrived on technical data and precision, he needed something different.
That’s when he discovered hydroponics. The controlled environment appealed to his analytical nature, offering the kind of measurable outcomes he craved. When you make mistakes in hydroponics, you can trace them back to specific causes. For an engineer accustomed to troubleshooting circuits and systems, this was the perfect marriage of agriculture and technology. The curiosity that made him tinker with gadgets now found expression in pH levels, nutrient solutions, and climate control systems.

Starting Small, Thinking Big
Clarence’s hydroponic journey began modestly with a small square greenhouse featuring around 350 plant sites—a combination of NFT pipes in the center and Kratky method styrofoam boxes around the perimeter. This wasn’t a commercial operation but essentially a research laboratory where he could experiment freely. Each week brought new parameters to test, new variables to adjust, new data to analyze. The setup was decidedly DIY, complete with aquarium pumps and homemade solutions to various challenges. Heat was a constant problem. Leafminers appeared, leaving telltale lines on the leaves—Clarence simply pinched them off.
Despite the amateur setup and experimental nature of the operation, something unexpected happened: demand found him before he was ready for it. A samgyupsal restaurant approached him wanting to purchase lettuce—30 to 40 heads daily. Even in his data collection phase, the market was hungry for fresh, locally-grown hydroponic produce. But Clarence could only supply about ten percent of their requirements, maybe once a week from his small farm. The client eventually moved to a supplier who could meet their full demand.

Don Fernando Algozo, the experienced greenhouse builder who would later partner with Clarence, frames this early setback differently. In most businesses, the problem is lack of customers and declining sales. Clarence had the opposite problem—too much demand and insufficient capacity. This “good problem” planted the seed for what would eventually become CLA Farm. The market was there, waiting. He just needed to scale up to meet it.

Building the Dream
The decision to build a proper commercial greenhouse didn’t come lightly. Clarence saved up while continuing his day job in game marketing, carefully planning every aspect of the new facility. He partnered with Alfrea Greenhouse Systems, led by Don Fernando Algozo, whose three years of growing experience provided valuable insights. Together, they designed a greenhouse that incorporated lessons from multiple farms and addressed the shortcomings of Clarence’s first attempt.
The 150-square-meter structure reflects careful engineering throughout. The height is immediately noticeable—significantly taller than many commercial greenhouses. The elevation improves humidity management and airflow, critical factors in Laguna’s climate, while also allowing workers to walk underneath the elevated growing tables to access the other side. For maintenance and harvesting, this seemingly small detail saves countless hours. The site itself presented challenges, as the lot had a natural slope that required substantial backfilling to create a level growing area.

In a stroke of fortunate timing, Clarence learned that a friend’s property was being developed into an Alfamart convenience store, generating excess soil that needed removal. Instead of paying for dump trucks and purchased fill material, Clarence arranged to take the soil for free and transported it himself using a closed van from his family’s poultry operation. It was tedious, backbreaking work, but the cost savings were substantial. The backfilled foundation now elevates the greenhouse, preventing water accumulation and ensuring excellent drainage even during heavy rains.

Engineering Excellence in Every Detail
Walk through CLA Farm and the engineering touches become apparent everywhere you look. The NFT channels feature removable lids for easy cleaning, but with a critical specification that most growers might overlook. Each lid is paired to its specific channel because the manufacturing cuts in China vary slightly between pieces. Mixing them up could create gaps where the sections connect, potentially causing leaks or flow problems. The channels themselves maintain a precise one-inch elevation difference from end to end, creating a gradual slope that keeps water flowing without excessive pressure. Too steep, and the rushing water would carry plant roots along with it, destabilizing the crops. Too flat, and water wouldn’t reach all plants evenly.

Climate control relies on a sophisticated yet simple system. Six circulating fans positioned throughout the greenhouse work in zones, each controlled independently based on readings from multiple hygrometers. The fans don’t run continuously but operate in short bursts of approximately three minutes, just long enough to stabilize temperature in their designated area. The roof design incorporates wide mesh openings that allow hot air to escape rapidly while keeping insects out. Combined with intake fans at one end and exhaust fans at the other, this creates effective air circulation that prevents heat buildup—one of the biggest challenges in tropical greenhouse farming.

At the heart of the system sits a 4,500-liter reservoir that holds the nutrient solution. This substantial volume isn’t just about capacity—larger water volumes maintain more stable temperatures and dissolved oxygen levels, creating a more forgiving system that won’t crash if something goes wrong for a few hours. A Fresh and Grow unit will be installed to remove chlorine from the municipal water supply while simultaneously cooling the water and increasing dissolved oxygen levels through agitation. The Christmas tree vertical systems add another dimension, literally. These A-frame structures maximize space utilization, potentially adding 3,000 more plant sites to the 4,000 on the horizontal tables. Every element of the design serves multiple purposes—the elevation that aids drainage also improves working conditions; the height that enhances airflow also simplifies maintenance.

The Investment Reality
When asked about costs, there’s a moment of hesitation before Clarence confirms the number: over one million pesos. This figure represents materials only, with no markup for labor or profit to the builder. Don Fernando explains that Clarence provided funds progressively as construction advanced, paying only for actual materials purchased and installed. This transparency between builder and client established trust that carried through the months-long construction process.
Breaking down that investment reveals where the money goes in a serious commercial hydroponic operation. The greenhouse structure itself—frame, covering, foundation—represents a significant portion. Then come the NFT channels and all their precisely manufactured components, imported from China and designed for durability and performance. The reservoir, plumbing, pumps, filters, and water treatment systems add more. Climate control equipment including fans, hygrometers, and electrical systems contribute their share. Even small items like connectors, adhesives, and fasteners accumulate quickly when you’re building at this scale.

The backfill work, had Clarence paid market rates for soil and delivery, could have added tens of thousands more to the total. His resourcefulness in securing free material and providing his own transport labor kept this cost off the books. Similarly, by working with Don Fernando on a materials-only basis rather than a turnkey contract, he avoided markup costs that would have pushed the project well beyond the million-peso threshold. For aspiring growers, these numbers provide crucial context for business planning and capital requirements.

The Market Challenge Ahead
Production capacity means nothing without markets to absorb it. Don Fernando speaks from experience about the harsh realities of selling hydroponic produce. In his three years of growing, he’s encountered buyers who take lettuce and never pay, or who pay but only after aggressive haggling that slashes margins to unsustainable levels. Premium quality doesn’t always command premium prices when buyers can find cheaper alternatives, even if the quality doesn’t compare.

Their strategy aims for 30 pesos per cup for premium quality lettuce. This price point reflects the true costs of producing high-quality hydroponic vegetables in a state-of-the-art facility. It accounts for the capital investment that must be recovered, the ongoing operational expenses for electricity and nutrients, the labor for cultivation and harvesting, and the inevitable losses and learning curves that any agricultural operation faces. Going lower risks making the entire venture economically unviable, turning a promising business into an expensive hobby.
The challenge is finding buyers who understand and appreciate the value proposition. Hydroponic lettuce offers advantages: consistent quality, year-round availability, reduced pesticide use, and often superior taste and texture compared to field-grown alternatives. Restaurants, hotels, and upscale grocers typically recognize these benefits and accept appropriate pricing. The mass market can be tougher, more price-sensitive, and quicker to substitute cheaper options. Clarence will need to navigate these market dynamics while maintaining volume sufficient to justify his seven-thousand-plant capacity.

Wisdom Beyond Years
At 27, Clarence displays a maturity and business sense that belies his youth. When discussing his peers who spend their time partying and pursuing luxuries, there’s no judgment in his voice—just an acknowledgment that he’s chosen a different path. The greenhouse represents delayed gratification on a massive scale: money saved instead of spent, weekends working instead of relaxing, risks taken when safer options existed. Clarence continues his marketing job even as CLA Farm takes shape because he understands that businesses require ongoing investment beyond initial capital.
His advice for aspiring growers cuts to the core issue he sees in the industry: find a proper mentor who can genuinely teach you. Too many self-proclaimed experts lack either the experience or the teaching ability to truly help newcomers succeed. The agricultural education landscape is crowded with gurus who haven’t completed formal training themselves but confidently dispense advice that may or may not prove sound.
Clarence emphasizes transparency as essential to any business relationship. Don Fernando’s willingness to discuss problems openly as they arose, rather than hiding issues until they became crises, built trust throughout the construction process. When setbacks occurred, both parties could address them collaboratively rather than adversarially. Many agricultural startups fail not because the farming doesn’t work but because the farmer runs out of money before the business matures, and having the right partner who communicates honestly makes all the difference.

The Journey Continues
As our farm visit concludes, CLA Farm stands on the threshold of operation. The infrastructure is complete, engineered and built to professional standards. The next phases—installing final equipment, germinating seeds, establishing growing protocols, and connecting with markets—will determine whether this venture becomes a thriving business or an expensive lesson. But the foundation, both literal and figurative, inspires confidence.

Clarence’s journey from a small experimental greenhouse with aquarium pumps to this sophisticated seven-thousand-plant facility happened in just a few years. The evolution reflects learning from mistakes, scaling thoughtfully rather than recklessly, and applying engineering discipline to agricultural challenges. His story resonates because it’s not about inherited wealth or lucky breaks—it’s about a young professional who identified an opportunity, educated himself, saved money, found good partners, and executed a plan.

When asked what to name his farm, Clarence settles on CLA Farm—drawn from his nickname, coincidentally similar to Mercedes-Benz’s CLA series. The name choice reflects his personality: straightforward, a bit playful, and uniquely his own. The farm isn’t trying to be something it’s not; it’s simply and confidently itself, much like its young owner.

For the broader agricultural community, particularly young Filipinos considering farming as a career, Clarence’s example offers hope and a roadmap. You don’t need to come from farming families or own vast tracts of land. What you need is curiosity, discipline, willingness to learn, and the patience to build systematically toward a goal. Start small, experiment, gather data, save capital, find mentors, scale thoughtfully, and maintain perspective when inevitable challenges arise.

The next generation of Philippine agriculture might look more like Clarence than like traditional farmers—urban professionals bringing technical expertise to growing food, applying engineering and business principles to cultivation, and bridging the gap between technology and tradition. As climate change and population growth place increasing pressure on food systems, these innovative approaches to farming become not just interesting but essential.

As we say our goodbyes, Clarence returns to checking details on his greenhouse, already thinking ahead to the next steps. CLA Farm hasn’t grown its first commercial crop yet, but it’s already succeeded in one crucial way: it exists. Many dreams remain dreams; Clarence turned his into concrete, steel, and PVC channels filled with possibility. His greenhouse stands ready, his systems engineered, his resolve tested and proven. The first crop will tell us how well theory translates to practice, but the real success is already visible—he built it, and the market is waiting, hungry for what he’s preparing to grow.

“When I like doing something, I see to it that I study it well. Not just do it. It can’t be just like this. The product I produce needs to be good.” — Jason Sarmiento

In the shadow of Mount Banahaw, where corn fields stretch across the landscape of Candelaria, Quezon, Jason Sarmiento is rewriting the rules of hydroponic farming.

The former telecommunications engineer turned hydroponic grower has become something of a local legend—not just for his daily vlogs that inspire thousands, but for his almost obsessive commitment to excellence.

“It can’t be just like this,” Sarmiento explains, standing amid rows of pristine Maritima lettuce. “The product I produce needs to be good. It needs to be presentable, something that can be sold properly.”

The Unlikely Journey

Sarmiento’s path to farming was neither planned nor conventional. A computer engineering graduate, he spent six years with Huawei Philippines as a data communications engineer before heading to Bahrain as an OFW. The corporate grind eventually wore him down.

“I got tired of corporate life,” he admits. When his mother fell ill in 2022, he returned home with plans to trade cryptocurrency. But staring at screens all day left him feeling hollow. “There’s no physical activity. It’s like I’ll die soon because I have no exercise.”

So he tried planting. What began as a hobby quickly evolved into something more serious—much more serious.

The Perfectionist’s Approach

What sets Sarmiento apart isn’t just his engineering background—it’s his refusal to accept mediocrity. When he started in December 2022, he didn’t sell a single head of lettuce for three to four months.

This philosophy extends to every aspect of his operation. When his first bamboo greenhouse—standing only eight feet tall—proved too hot for optimal growth, he didn’t make excuses. He rebuilt it at sixteen feet. When the standard greenhouse setup didn’t maximize his space, he designed a moving NFT channel system that produces 960 heads in just 48 square meters—yielding 20 heads per square meter.

“When they grow, I adjust them to the right space,” Sarmiento explains. “Because what lettuce really needs is space. They won’t grow if they’re really stuck together.” It’s labor-intensive work, moving channels one by one as plants mature. But for Sarmiento, the results justify the effort.

When Variety Selection Changes Everything

Jason’s most significant cultivation decision involved switching from Olmetie to Maritima lettuce variety in October of the previous year. This change resulted from careful observation of performance differences and customer feedback analysis.

Since implementing Maritima, pest pressure has virtually disappeared from his operation. Previous summers with Olmetie brought significant white fly infestations and subsequent plant stunting. The same conditions with Maritima produced no comparable pest issues.

Performance metrics demonstrate Maritima’s advantages: consistent harvests at 36-37 days from seed, with individual heads weighing 120-150 grams. The variety shows resilience across varying weather conditions, maintaining quality during both sunny and rainy periods.

The Science of Success

Ask Sarmiento about his secret, and his answer is refreshingly straightforward: “Regularly check your EC and pH.”

It’s the engineer in him speaking—measure, measure, measure. While some growers rely on intuition or luck, Sarmiento treats farming as the science it is.

“Hydroponics is science-based, so in science, there are meters, so let’s use them if you want your plant growth to become competitive,” he insists. “If it’s not in the right range, no matter what you do, it won’t grow like this.”

The proof is in his greenhouse. His Maritima lettuce—uniform, vibrant, and no yellow patches. No stunted growth. Just row after row of picture-perfect lettuce.

The Daily Discipline of Observation

Sarmiento’s greenhouse management operates on a different frequency—one tuned not to rigid schedules but to the subtle language of temperature, humidity, and plant behavior. Where conventional wisdom dictates deploying shade nets at 10 AM sharp, Jason steps into his greenhouse and feels. Some mornings, the heat builds with unusual aggression, and shade goes up at 8 AM. Other days, the standard timing holds. His misting system embodies the same intuitive precision: a mere 10 to 15 seconds of activation, triggered not by timer but by the first whisper of plant stress.

But don’t mistake intuition for guesswork. Jason’s irrigation timing dances with the seasons—thirty minutes on, fifteen off during daylight in cooler weather, then inverted at night to forty-five minutes off, fifteen on. It’s a rhythm that defies the common practice of shutting down pumps after dark. “I want to prevent the roots from drying out at night,” he explains, understanding what many miss: that respiration doesn’t sleep, that growth happens in darkness, that roots need oxygen even when photosynthesis pauses. The engineer in him measures everything twice. The farmer in him knows when to trust what can’t be measured at all.

Space as Strategy

“The inside of a greenhouse is for planting, not for touring,” Jason declares, unapologetic. Every centimeter surrendered to comfort is a centimeter stolen from production. This ruthless space allocation delivers 20 heads per square meter—nearly double what conventional layouts achieve. The real genius reveals itself in motion: as lettuce matures, Jason physically shifts entire NFT channels, choreographing a slow dance of spacing adjustments. It’s backbreaking work, moving 960 plants incrementally through their life cycle. But this mobile system achieves the impossible—maximum density without sacrificing individual plant development.

Even waste becomes a strategy. Those three-ounce plastic cups holding his seedlings? They cost 20 centavos and never come back. The expensive net pots he tried first? “They’d say they’ll bring them back, but only return a few,” he recalls with a rueful smile. The disposable cups win on three fronts: cheaper upfront, use less coco peat, and let roots emerge faster into the nutrient solution. The channels themselves slope precisely—one inch drop per forty inches—engineered for perfect nutrient film flow. It’s the engineer’s mind finding elegance in disposability, turning every constraint into calculated advantage.

The Customer-First Philosophy

When clients call, any hour, any circumstance, Jason moves. Not because he’s desperate for sales, but because he’s built something rarer than perfect lettuce: perfect reliability. “When I earn, and the person I sold to uses it in their business and earns too,” he says, articulating an economics of mutual prosperity that sounds almost naive until you see it working. Jason doesn’t just deliver lettuce—he learns businesses. He asks about menu changes, foot traffic, weekend rushes. Some might call it being tsismoso, a gossip. Jason calls it relationship-building. His customers become advocates not because his lettuce is cheaper, but because he’s become invested in their success.

The quality obsession feeds everything else. From his first harvest, Jason refused to sell anything less than pristine—no yellow patches, no stunting, just relentless consistency. “First impressions last with clients,” he notes. Two hundred heads every other day, without fail. Standards that never slip. Flexibility when timing matters but never at quality’s expense. It’s a business model built on the radical idea that excellence plus reliability creates its own demand. In Jason’s world, the product opens doors. The service keeps them open.

Building A Community

Despite running what he modestly calls a “backyard farm,” Sarmiento has become a hub in the hydroponic community. His daily vlogs draw devoted followers who wait for his updates. He’s created a group where growers help each other, share knowledge, and troubleshoot problems together.

His greenhouse installations, done in collaboration with Silver Greenhouse and Virgilio Montes, have become models of practical design. And his willingness to share both successes and failures has made him a trusted voice in the industry.
Apart from that, his relationship-building approach extends beyond simple delivery transactions. Jason invests time understanding each customer’s business requirements, operational challenges, and quality expectations. This deeper engagement creates trust-based partnerships that generate referrals and expand his customer network.

Customer loyalty manifests in their preference for his Maritima variety over the previously supplied Almette. The clients appreciate both the improved flavor profile and the complete leaf utilization possible with Maritima’s structure.

The View from Mount Banahaw

Standing in his greenhouse with Mount Banahaw visible in the distance, Sarmiento embodies a particular kind of Filipino excellence—one built not on shortcuts or hype, but on discipline, curiosity, and an uncompromising commitment to quality.
“What I learned in business is you’ll earn, and the person you sold to, if they use it in their business, they’ll earn too,” he reflects. It’s a philosophy of abundance rather than scarcity, of building rather than extracting.

From sixty heads to hundreds, from a bamboo structure to multiple greenhouses, from corporate engineer to master grower—Jason Sarmiento’s journey is still unfolding. But one thing is certain: wherever he goes, he’ll measure twice and cut once, ensuring that every plant, every system, every decision meets his exacting standards.

Because for Jason Sarmiento, it can’t be just like this. It has to be perfect.