Aggie Ps Talk 3.0 continues with mushroom and floral agribusinesses

Continuing the agripreneurship webinars, the second week of the Aggie Ps Talk 3.0: Moving forward in challenging times through Agripreneurship featured mushroom and cutflowers businesses.

CAFS Dean, Dr. Elpidio M. Agbisit, Jr. welcomed the participants and cited that coincidentally, the topics of the week’s webinars are related to the celebration of Valentine’s day. Citing that a healthy heart means a healthy life, he encouraged the viewers to share a meal of mushroom during their Valentine’s day celebration. On the other hand, it is without doubt that the “hearts day” is celebrated with flowers, as the second webinar featured cutflowers production.

Date with a Fun-gi: Mushroom Production

Mr. Faustino Paulo Aromin or Mang Tino as he is fondly called, is the owner of Flourish Farm located in San Ildefonso, Bulacan, established in 2014. Flourish Farm’s main business is oyster mushroom production. The farm produces mother culture, grain spawn, fruiting bags, fresh mushroom fruits, and processed products.

After working for the private sector for many years, he shared that he decided to enter into agripreneurship. “It feels so good and fulfilling to have a business which you can call your own,” he said.

Being an industry name in oyster mushroom production, Mang Tino is also happy to share his knowledge about mushroom production and farm best practices. This is manifested through the trainings and workshops offered by Flourish Farms as an accredited Learning Site for Agriculture by the Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Trainings Institute.

YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF8Y3XQXyoY&t=2799s

Blooms is My Life

The speaker for the 4^th webinar, titled, Blooms is My Life, shared an inspiring story of ups and downs before achieving his stature in the cutflowers industry. Mr. Filemon Faner is the owner of Green Thumb Garden located in Silang Cavite.

While Mr. Faner struggled to finish his college education to earn his BS Agriculture degree due to financial problems, he was able to gain experiences that he used when he formally entered the workforce. From being a student assistant and research aid, to working in different farms, he was able to learn skills that he used and helped him build his own farm.

Having been blessed with the opportunity to start the business from a greenhouse loan, Mr. Faner was able to successfully develop their business to how it is now. From having just one greenhouse from loan, he was able to build a few more greenhouses, of which he was also the designer.

Mr. Faner’s story is one that inspires aspiring agripreneurs that challenges exist, but it also comes with learnings. And that these learnings should be appreciated and used to improve in the business.