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Malaysia: Homegrown goodness

The new design allows individuals to grow vegetables vertically in smaller spaces and aquaponically, which means they can harvest fish as well as chemical-free vegetables.

By Pathma Subramaniam
The Edge Malaysia
June 23, 2020

Excerpt:

When couple Ivy and Michael Simon started growing vegetables in the backyard of their single-storey bungalow, their intention was simply to grow good-quality produce for their family of six. However, this small act of growing vegetables in their own backyard sparked a change in their thinking and, eventually, an overhaul of their lifestyle.

In December 2014, the family relocated to the Broga valley in Semenyih, Selangor. Near their house, they spotted 1½ acres of land on which they would be able to sow seeds and grow crops. So, Ivy and Michael decided to start Homegrown Farms Semenyih amid the lush Broga Hills.

“We bought this parcel of land to grow our own produce. We were living in a smaller house down the road. And even then, we were growing different types of vegetables,” says Michael.

As practising media professionals, Ivy and Michael were often on the frontlines, witnessing irregular and downright criminal practices when it came to industrial agriculture and food production, and coming up with exposés on these issues. Since nearly 80% of the fruits and vegetables consumed locally were imported from China — which was still reeling from a crisis of confidence following reports of melamine-laced baformula, fake eggs, diseased pork and mislabelled meat, among others — the couple decided they would not feed their children anything from these dodgy sources. Going deeper into the issue, they also would not give them any food laden with synthetic nitrogen fertilisers and chemical pesticides.

Read the complete article here.