For the longest time, the vegetable farmers of Benguet relied heavily on middlemen to get their produce to consumers in Mero Manila. The setup brought the prices of their commodities up several notches higher, thus they did not earn much while the consumers in Manila had to pay premium prices to buy them. It was not beneficial both to the farmers and to the end market, but there was no choice. That was the way things worked.
It was particularly difficult for the farmers during times of oversupply. They had to sell their produce at an almost giveaway price and throw away leftovers. Consumers in the metro agonized with them over such instances. Chefs and restaurant owners, in particular, wanted to help out, as they were the ones who needed big amounts of produce and had the capacity to buy them. To them, it did not seem right to let such beautiful produce go to waste. So, some chefs started organizing “rescue buys” among their fellow chefs.
“I started supporting Benguet farmers through rescue buys during the pandemic,” says Chef Waya Araos-Wijangco.
Back then, Chef Waya’s critically acclaimed Gourmet Gypsy Café was located in Quezon City.
When she finally decided to move her restaurant up to Baguio in 2021, her involvement with the farmers of Benguet became even more personal. She met with the farmers, who talked about their experiences with “rescue buying” efforts, and Chef Waya began to understand that rescue buying was not a sustainable way to help them.
And industry leaders began to work on the system. The World Food Expo (WOFEX) opened some booths for farmers in 2022, and it gave the farmers an opportunity to see the market and meet chefs and restaurant owners. The interaction proved to be fruitful, and a lot of chefs wanted to go and see the farms for themselves.
“We organized a farm tour for chefs. This was when we saw a shift and an opportunity for both chefs and farmers,” says Chef Waya. “Once we started a conversation going between chefs and farmers, a deeper understanding about the food ecosystem happened. Farmers began to see what chefs need to know to create and support farmers, and the chefs grasped the need for menu flexibility to accommodate the seasonality, terroir and economics of farming.”
She adds: “From these initial visits, we were able to create buying relationships with Wildflour, Hilton, Guevarra’s, Mama Lou’s, Amare, and many other restaurants who understood that buying direct from farmers and getting into contract growing arrangements were the best ways to support farmers in a sustainable way.”
The farmers who got organized for this have banded themselves into what they call Greens for Good, which Chef Waya continues to support, as the group progressed from just supplying the needs of metro-based chefs and restaurants to also bringing their produce to Metro Manila on a regular basis to make them available to end consumers and other food business owners who need good quality vegetables, fruits and other crops grown in Benguet.
Aside from institutional buyers (restaurants, hotels, canteens and industrial manufacturers), Greens for Good has retail outlets now—four in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) every Saturday, and one at the University Hotel in Diliman, Quezon City, every Sunday.
In the beginning, the Department of Agriculture-CAR assisted a lot with logistics, lending their trucks so the farmers could bring their produce down to Manila and its environs. Two years on, the farmers can now afford their own logistics, because they have already bought vehicles that enable them to transport their goods.
Chef Waya is still there, cheering them on, making shout-outs to chef and restaurateur friends whenever they are in Manila so there will be no “leftovers” to bring back home, and just being there for them. She says she is merely the “enabler,” and yet she has done so much for the farmers of Benguet since the start, setting the farmers up with potential clients, guiding them through the process of pitching and presenting, teaching them how to cost properly and how to present themselves well. From a lot of hand-holding in the beginning, she has transformed them into confident farmers who can now stand on their own.
What fulfillment does she get for helping the farmers of Benguet?
“I feel fulfilled seeing how much it has impacted their lives,” she says.
Last year, the farmers called Chef Waya for a meeting in La Trinidad. When she got there, they showed her a small building they have rented to serve as their consolidation center and office, and two of the farmer leaders showed me the vehicles they have purchased.
“I was so proud,” she says. “I told them, ‘Magpa-burger naman kayo! They did. I never got to taste the burger. My throat was so choked up in tears.”