A quiet shift is taking place in the Philippines’ agricultural landscape, where young entrepreneurs are blending technology with traditional farming to address long-standing challenges in food security and climate resilience. Among them is Dennis Ivan Chavez, a 25-year-old computer engineering graduate whose journey from hydroponic hobbyist to agritech co-founder reflects a broader trend: the rise of digital innovation in an industry often seen as resistant to change.
Chavez’s startup, FrescoGreenovations, began as a pandemic experiment in hydroponics—growing plants without soil—before evolving into a business supplying food to local households. A P100,000 grant from the Department of Agriculture (DA) in 2021 became the catalyst for its transformation into an agritech venture, now developing automated greenhouse systems for a private school. His team, a mix of computer engineers and licensed agriculturists, embodies the interdisciplinary approach increasingly seen as vital to modernizing farming.
The push for tech-driven agriculture comes at a critical juncture. The average age of Filipino rice farmers is 56, and the sector has hemorrhaged nearly a million jobs this year alone, largely due to typhoon-related devastation. With farm sizes shrinking and productivity stagnating, experts warn that traditional methods are no longer sustainable. Science and Technology Secretary Renato U. Solidum points to artificial intelligence (AI), drones, and precision tools as key to attracting younger generations to farming—not as a fallback career, but as a dynamic, innovation-led field.
Government initiatives are accelerating this transition. The DoST’s Project SarAI, an AI-powered decision support system co-developed with the University of the Philippines Los Baños, will soon roll out nationwide, offering farmers real-time advisories on planting, irrigation, and harvesting based on weather and crop data. Meanwhile, the DA’s funding programs and President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s call for youth engagement in agriculture signal a policy shift toward tech adoption.
Yet challenges persist. Lorilyn P. Daquioag, founder of GreenVisionsPh, an agritech startup that began by converting food waste into fertilizer, highlights the gap between traditional practices and data-driven farming. Many farmers, she notes, still rely on guesswork—lacking soil tests, monitoring systems, or even baseline data. Her company’s AI-powered diagnostic tools, which assess soil health and disease in minutes, have helped Mindanao banana growers cut input costs by half while boosting yields. But scaling such solutions requires overcoming skepticism, limited rural internet access, and fragmented distribution networks.
The broader hurdle, according to Manila Business Club Executive Director Rafael ASG Ongpin, is cultural. “Agriculture is still perceived as a low-prestige, labor-intensive sector,” he says. To change that, he advocates embedding agri-tech concepts into K-12 education and fostering partnerships between schools and private innovators. “The goal is to make farming attractive, viable, and future-ready—not just a livelihood of last resort.”
For startups like FrescoGreenovations and GreenVisionsPh, the path forward hinges on bridging the data divide. Chavez notes that the lack of large agricultural datasets stymies AI development, a problem compounded by the country’s incomplete digital transformation. Yet the urgency of climate change—with monsoon rains and storms wiping out P3 billion in crops last July—underscores the need for precision tools that can mitigate risks and optimize resources.
As these young innovators navigate funding shortages and infrastructure gaps, their work signals a larger opportunity: redefining farming as a high-tech, high-impact industry. Whether through AI-driven diagnostics or automated greenhouses, the message is clear—agriculture’s future may well lie in the hands of those who see soil and sensors as natural allies.