Role model for farming innovation
Tzu Chi is shaping Gin Gigaquit into a leader who sees agriculture not just as production, but as compassionate service to people and planet.
THE Gardenator allows multiple crops to grow in a compact footprint while recycling kitchen scraps into fertilizer.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF KWF
Juniel Rey “Gin” Gigaquit is emerging as one of Mindanao’s most promising young role models for farming innovation, blending grassroots tech, waste solutions, and compassionate values shaped by his immersion with Tzu Chi in the Philippines and Taiwan.
Ten years after dropping out of a computer science course and falling into depression, Gin has rebuilt his life around agriculture and service. Now an agriculture student at Caraga State University, he is involved in projects that cut farm costs, reduce waste, and bring young people back into farming through groups like Kids Who Farm (KWF).
Farming talent
With KWF, Gin serves as a volunteer coordinator, helping turn school yards and city corners into productive micro-farms under initiatives such as City Green Pockets in Butuan, where students grow food and even share free arroz caldo made from their harvests.
Gin co-developed the Gardenator, a plastic drum upcycled into a vertical planter with a built-in composter, designed for tight urban spaces and school grounds. The customized planter allows multiple crops to grow in a compact footprint while recycling kitchen scraps into fertilizer. The device won first place for project implementation at the 2025 Tzu Chi International Youth Leadership Program, besting entries from Asia, Australia, North America, and Europe.
He and his peers now conduct Gardenator “technology transfer” sessions in communities, treating the device as both a food security tool and an educational gateway to circular, climate-smart agriculture.
Through Cheaper AF (Alternative Feeds, Alternative Fertilizer), Gin tackles the high cost of farm inputs by converting food waste into black soldier fly–based feed and organic fertilizer at a nano-scale facility on the Caraga State University campus. The agri-enterprise has won recognition in the Department of Agriculture’s Young Farmers’ Challenge and climate programs like Klima Eskwela, showing that student-led ventures can deliver practical solutions for livestock, aquaculture, and crops while cutting waste and emissions.
Tzu Chi influence
Gin was introduced to Tzu Chi Philippines when he joined the 2025 Tzu Chi International Youth Leadership Program and visited the Tzu Chi headquarters in Taiwan as prize for his winning farming innovation. After his trip, he spoke at a Humanities Class and Charity Day at the Buddhist Tzu Chi Campus in Sta. Mesa, Manila. Standing before scholars and medical assistance beneficiaries, he shared how farming, waste solutions, and filial piety knit together his personal story and his work with KWF and Cheaper AF.
Tzu Chi’s formation programs emphasize humility, reflection, and service, which Gin credits for making him more mindful in words and actions and more present in his work with communities. This grounding in ethics complements his technical experiments with composting, micro-farming, and circular feed systems, shaping him into a leader who sees agriculture not just as production, but as compassionate service to people and planet.
Gin’s exposure widened further during his trip to Taiwan for the youth leadership program, where he immersed himself in Tzu Chi’s culture of discipline and compassion. He visited Daai TV, Tzu Chi’s media arm, observing how storytelling can move people to care for the environment and the poor — experience that can help him communicate farming and waste innovations to a wider public.
He joined volunteers on a farm in Hualien, doing land preparation and operating a walk-behind tractor, giving him hands-on experience with mechanization and organized volunteer farming that can inform how he scales microfarms and Gardenators back home.
At Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s palliative care unit, he watched volunteers serve patients and families, which he says deepened his sense of gratitude and reinforced that technology and livelihood projects must ultimately uplift human dignity.
Taken together — KWF, the Gardenator, Cheaper AF, and his Tzu Chi immersion — Gin’s trajectory offers a template for the next generation of agricultural innovators:
Technically grounded: He experiments with vertical drums, BSF larvae, and nano-scale waste facilities while pursuing formal agricultural training.
Ethically anchored: Tzu Chi’s emphasis on compassion, gratitude, and environmental stewardship informs how he designs and implements projects, keeping people and ecosystems at the center.
Community-focused: He constantly translates prototypes into trainings — teaching students, farmers, and barangay residents to adopt micro-farming, composting, and circular feed systems.
For young Filipinos who want to work in agriculture but also care about climate, waste and social justice, Gin’s story shows how farming can inspire a person to be healthy and innovative.