As the Aggie Ps Talk 5.0: AgriCOOLture Youth Champions comes to a conclusion, two passionate agriculturists were invited to speak and share their experiences to inspire more young people to engage in agriculture. They were Mr. Bryan Mathew V. Katigbak and Prof. Ryan Rodrigo P. Tayobong. 

Before the two speakers shared their inspiring stories, Dr. Amado A. Angeles, director of the Dairy Training and Research Institute (DTRI) gave the opening message. He said that he is grateful for the support from other agricultural schools in the various initiatives of CAFS. He shared that he hopes that through the webinar series, more students will enter agriculture as the problem with declining interest in the field is not only in the Philippines but all across the world. He further encouraged the participants by saying that the agriculture sector will be the one to save the world from hunger. 

Dare to Dream, Dare to Dairy

The first speaker for the closing session was Mr. Bryan Mathew V. Katigbak, Vice President for Operations of Batangas Agribusiness Center, Inc. An aggie himself, Mr. Katigbak is a graduate of BS Agriculture Major in Animal Science from CAFS, UPLB. 

Mr. Katigbak’s talk revolved around his and his family’s experiences on agriculture, specifically dairy farming. He first showed how many international brands in coffee, ice cream, and pastry business are large consumers of dairy products. He then proceeded to share how his grandfather, who is a doctor, observed that milk is the missing ingredient in the diet of Filipinos. This led to the start of the family’s venture into agriculture, which has been passed on to generations. 

While Mr. Katigbak admitted that he was not first into agriculture and originally wanted to become a doctor, his upbringing in the farm and his love for animals led him to the path of a dairy farmer. Now, his advocacy is to bring fresh milk to every Filipino while ensuring that the milk is safe to consume, and supporting our local dairy farmers to achieve sustainability.

Finding the Mind, Body, and Soul: The Artful Side of Agriculture

 

The second speaker of the session was Prof. Ryan Rodrigo P. Tayobong, Assistant Professor at Institute of Crop Science, CAFS, UPLB. Also an aggie himself, Prof. Tayobong is a BS Agriculture cum laude graduate. His discussion was all about the art in agriculture. 

 

Throughout his talk, Prof. Tayobong’s dedication as a landscape horticulturist was overflowing. Starting with landscape horticulture and highlighting edible landscaping, he also enthusiastically talked about plant arts and showed his experiences in event styling, specifically stage and exhibit design. He showed some of his past designs and shared how he developed his skills as an artist and as an agriculturist through these. 

 

Prof. Tayobong shared that these are combinations of art, science, and business. These fields of agriculture allowed him to use his knowledge in agriculture to make art. He ended his talk by stating that “Whatever your passion is, you will always have a spot in agriculture.” He said that in agriculture, it has art that can feed your mind and soul and science that can feed your physical body.

 

As the session comes to an end, Dr. Pompe C. Sta. Cruz, chair of the CAFS Webinar Committee gave his heartfelt gratitude to the invited speakers for the whole Aggie Ps Talk 5.0 as well as the participants who have been supportive. He hopes that through the webinar series, the youth are more inspired to engage in agriculture as a career. 

 

This is the fifth season of the CAFS webinar series, Rebooting Agriculture in the New Normal: Webfresher Courses. 

Watch the episode through CAFS YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/oS8nJ7TI8nw

By Alyssa Kaye S. Mojar