Watch for the February issue of Agriculture Magazine which will be off the press any day from now (Jan. 23, 2017). You will get a lot of useful information and ideas that you can adopt in your own kind of farming.

Our contributor from Davao, Noel Provido, writes about the high-quality Arabica coffee that a coffee growers’ association is producing in the Sitio of Pluto located some 1,200 meters up in the Bansalan (Davao del Sur) side of Mt. Apo. The association is called BACOPA which stands for Balutakay Coffee Association. Balutakay is the barangay to which Sitio Pluto belongs.

At the recent 2nd National Coffee Conference in Baguio City, Bacopa coffee ranked first in coffee quality grading, with cupping score of 85.7 and an overall average of 85 over 100, as scored by the International QI Cup Grader. Foreign buyers are purchasing the coffee beans from Sitio Pluto. One Japanese buyer is paying P200 per kilo of sorted coffee beans with no defects. On the other hand, another big buyer pays P135 per kilo of all-in or unsorted beans.

ISABELA-MADE FARM IMPLEMENTS – You will also read about the many practical farm implements fabricated by the Central Isabela Agri Manufacturing Corporation (CIAMC), a subsidiary of Agricom, a big distributor of tractors and other farm equipment. These include a mechanical two-row corn planter, a boom sprayer attached to a hand tractor, a rice seed cleaner for the producers of rice seeds for planting, a roller that breaks down clods after plowing a wet field and then leveling the paddy at the same time.

Our columnist, Dr. Rafael D. Guerrero III, gives an update on what is ailing the fisheries of Laguna de Bay. One problem is the proliferation of the predaceous knife fish which is an aquarium fish believed to have been introduced to the lake unintentionally. The knife fish has caused the decline in ayungin fishery, particularly in the eastern part of the lake, according to Dr. Guerrero.

Of course, you will also read about the opening of Allied Botanical Corporation as an agritourism destination. The company will open its R&D Farm in Tayug, Pangasinan to visitors starting February 17. See you there.