If you are interested to see the latest varieties of vegetables and other high-value crops for the lowland, better attend the annual Field Day of Allied Botanical Company. This will be on February 3-5 in Brgy. Lichauco, Tayug, Pangasinan.

Every February, for several years now, the company has been staging this field day to showcase in its 23-hectare experimental farm the latest as well as the old reliable varieties that can make enterprising farmers much richer.
In this experimental farm, the company grows many varieties of each crop to find out which ones are best adapted to the lowland conditions in the country. For instance, they grow different types of peppers. There is the ‘pangsigang’ variety of finger peppers. Several of them are grown side by side so the visitors can actually see how each one is performing. Aside from the ‘pangsigang’ type, there are also different varieties of sweet pepper as well as hot chillies.

Then they also have different types of tomatoes that include the cherry, the traditional size and the salad types. Last year, they also showcased a really small tomato whose fruits are just the size of ‘sago’ in your favorite sago’t gulaman. It was something really unique and nice to eat with bagoong to taste, or some other preparation.

You will also see different types of ampalaya which is a major money maker for farmers all over the country. Eggplant is another favorite vegetable that farmers love to plant because it is another profitable crop. The Lightning variety is particularly fruitful and is becoming the darling of vegetable growers.

Other vegetables that visitors will witness are different varieties of upo, cucumber, string beans, cabbage, cauliflower, okra, patola, squash, lowland lettuce, cauliflower, onion, broccoli, upland kangkong, kale, mustard, pechay, and more.

Visitors will also love to taste boiled waxy corn and sweet corn. The white and bicolor waxy corn varieties are recent introductions. As boiled corn, they are soft and sweet, especially when they are harvested at the right time.
Allied Botanical is also well known for its wide array of culinary herbs that include mint, oregano, tarragon, basil, parsley, chives, thyme and more. Then there are colorful flowers of canna (Bandera española), sunflower, celosia and other annuals. Flowers are becoming important to seed companies besides Allied. That’s because there is a growing market for flowering plants, both as cut flower and as potted plant. They are also great for landscaping.

During the three-day field day, more than a thousand people usually attend. They come from various places as far as Ilocos in the north to far-flung areas in Visayas and Mindanao. The trip to Tayug is worth the transport expense which could be compensated many times over by the new knowledge acquired.

See you there on February 3 to 5!