Singapore's top restaurants buy their produce from local farmers; so should you
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Singapore's elevation restaurants purchase their produce from local farmers; so should you
From Quan Fa Organic Farm to Ah Hua Kelong, Singapore'due south farmers tell u.s.a. how they are growing their businesses despite obstacles such as the lack of manpower and natural resources, and how Singaporeans can contribute towards turning their tides.
Managing managing director Wong Jing Kai is determined to expand Ah Hua Kelong's business, while raising sensation about the merits of fresh, locally grown seafood. (Photo: Pixioo/Samuel Ng)
04 Nov 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 04 Jul 2022 11:52PM)
Information technology is the challenge of the ages: Growing and delivering fresh food to Singapore'southward e'er-growing population with the limited land nosotros possess. Yet farming is a calling that a small group of individuals have taken up. Never mind the lack of land, natural resources and manpower. These things have never stopped our farmers, whose passion lies in growing food for the country.
Accept Liao Chuan Huat, who established Quan Fa vegetable farm in 1999 with the simple goal of feeding his family meliorate. Certified organic the following year, Liao grew his crops then that he was able to sell vegetables to Singaporeans who made the trek to his farm in the Lim Chu Kang area only to purchase them.
In 2008, Liao'due south son Jun Jie joined the growing family business and took his begetter'southward produce to wet markets, supermarkets, and to consumers online.
Quan Fa Organic Farm's growth was well on track, relieve for one snag: Last year, it lost its two-hectare plot as its charter came to an cease. It moved to its current plot at Neo Tiew which, at near 4,500 sq. ft., is merely a quarter of the size of its former plot. Production dipped appropriately and it at present imports vegetables from Thailand, Australia and Cameron Highlands to sustain and abound its business.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit earlier this year, it took however another toll on the business as border restrictions curtailed the supply chain.
"Information technology was frustrating," said Quan Fa's marketing director Lays Poh. "The upside was that there was need, but just not enough supply." Undaunted, the company wrote a proposal to the Singapore Food Agency, detailing this unproblematic economics tenet in a bid to secure the plot that sits beside it now.
"If we go it, information technology means we can produce more. Just nosotros volition never go back to the same space that nosotros had before," said Poh.
READ> The Cameron Highlands farmers supplying upstanding, organic produce to Singapore
HOME TO ROOST
Toh Thye San Farm, likewise, began equally a small family business. Though it was incorporated in 1979, its eponymous founder had been plying his trade every bit a chicken farmer who sold his fowl at wet markets for more than 20 years before that.
Today, Toh Thye San supplies ethically farmed craven and other meats to supermarkets and Singapore'due south food services industry, including high-end restaurants such as Iggy's and Burnt Ends.
Now in its third generation, the family business has established farms in Malaysia to circumvent the issue of space, but cites cost and manpower as their main challenges. These it has side-stepped with automation – Toh Thye San Farm was among the kickoff poultry suppliers to automate its slaughtering process. Come next year, it will motility into the new Singapore Poultry Hub, the first smart and light-green mill for the industry in Singapore.
A joint venture with four other poultry companies – Kee Song Holdings, Sinmah Holdings, Tong Huat Poultry Processing Factory, and Tysan Nutrient – the Singapore Poultry Hub will help the farms increase productivity and achieve new economies of scale.
"For case, instead of five slaughtering lines, we will all share one. And we will take an automatic cutting line that cuts chickens into 8 or nine pieces (with less need for manpower)," said the visitor'southward head of projects Kenny Toh.
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TEACH A Human TO FISH
And and so there is Wong Jing Kai, who is so passionate near fish farming – a then-called sunset manufacture – that he is looking to revive information technology for these modern times.
"I met (kelong owner) Ah Hua more than half dozen years ago and later on chatting with him, realised that there are lots of gaps to exist explored in this (fish farming) industry," said the thirty-year-old, who'southward at present the company's managing director.
"What people considered a sunset industry wasn't that to me. It is just considered a dusk industry considering people don't desire to do the work. But there are then many opportunities, such as the fact that there was no local seafood directly available to the public."
Every bit Wong saw it, the best option was selling his seafood online at affordable rates. Today, Ah Hua Kelong sells its wares to Singaporeans on its website, complete with doorstep commitment, and supplies produce to restaurants like the Michelin-starred Labyrinth, which proudly country their provenance on the menus.
It also boasts its own restaurant, Scaled By Ah Hua Kelong and a franchise outlet Ah Hua Kelong @ Riang, which help to showcase and educate consumers about the farm'south produce such every bit locally grown mussels and crabs.
His goal is to now expand Ah Hua Kelong, while raising awareness nearly the merits of fresh, locally grown seafood. Next on Wong'south agenda is harnessing technology to update the farm and business.
"But to do that, we demand sales. We've tried to put in small things where we tin. Nosotros've brought in solar panels so that we tin can reduce the oil usage to run the generator. I'1000 now looking into death rates and survivability – the more the fish survive, the more than we can sell," he said. "I'k likewise trying to get our farms certified sustainable."
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GROWING A NATIONAL GARDEN
A pioneer in Singapore's urban farming landscape, Edible Garden Metropolis has been key to the rising awareness of local produce among Singaporeans. Since its inception in 2012, it has championed the Grow Your Own Food motility past showtime helping people abound edible gardens in their homes and workplaces.
Today, it boasts iii production farms in Queenstown, Raffles City Shopping Heart and Funan, where it grows up to fifty varieties of vegetables, fruit and edible flowers for restaurants and households.
"While Edible Garden City began with the business of edible landscaping, we have over the years understood the importance of a diversified business model that focuses not but on food production, merely that also actively aims to build sensation of local farming in Singapore," said a spokesperson for the visitor.
"Hence, besides growing nutrient and building gardens, over the years, we have expanded into offering tours and workshops, every bit well as growing kits and fifty-fifty lifestyle products."
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SUPPORTING OUR LOCAL FARMERS
While Singapore now imports ninety per cent of our food, Edible Garden City is optimistic that we can accelerate food production to run across the country's "xxx by 30" goal (i.e. produce thirty percent of our land'southward nutritional needs by 2030).
"Every Singaporean can do our function to help Singapore become more food resilient. These efforts are not limited to buying local produce. It could exist by volunteering, talking about local producers or even patronising eateries that purchase from local farmers," the spokesperson continued.
Quan Fa Organic Farm'southward Lays Poh added, "Singaporeans have this mindset that if it's imported, it must be skilful. Merely we want Singaporeans to understand that with traditional farming practices similar ours, you can see the source; the produce is harvested and sent straight to the market place. Cargo freight takes nearly vii days from overseas, then the freshness just isn't there anymore. The authorities has to assistance heighten awareness of this and support the farmers also."
"Self-sustainability is a very distant futurity for united states, particularly if you wait at (rearing) chickens," said Kenny Toh. "It'southward a very country-intensive industry and bears hygiene risks because of disease and water pollution. Perchance information technology's possible with vegetables or seafood, but it would crave a lot of assist from the government."
Ah Hua Kelong's Wong says that imported produce provides variety, but locals should consider Singapore-farmed produce as an selection more oft. Every bit he succinctly put it: "We should be a source option, not a second pick."
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/experiences/singapore-farm-urban-farmers-suppliers-restaurants-247111
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