One day, a former OFW who had become a farmer in Misamis Occidental, had come to us hoping to get some bright ideas regarding what farm projects to undertake.

In the end, I think I got more bright ideas from him than he from me. For instance, he had this bright idea of erecting a fence nobody could steal.

What’s that? You see, he had a 4-hectare plantation of two-year-old mahogany trees. He had always feared that someday, stray animals would intrude into his property and destroy his young trees. So he had installed hog wire all around. To his great dismay, however, some people stole the wires in just a few days after putting up the fence. He had also learned that other farm owners had experienced the same.

In his frustration, he hired heavy equipment to dig a two-meter wide and two-meter deep canal all around his plantation. He was so proud telling us that no large animal, including goats and sheep, can ever enter his property. As an added bonus, he could dump the fallen leaves in the canal where they will decompose in time and become organic fertilizer. Isn’t that bright? (From Memoirs of an Agri Journalist, unpublished.)