DQ Farm (est. 1991)

Mr. Chew, P.A. to Minister of Health, came with members of MOA Inc, Bentong.  When we started farming years ago, never knew entertaining visitors is part of the business.

Hope he can convince the Minister to visit.  Would love to share some info on consumer health issues with him.

The Ministry of Agriculture came again to take samples for testing.

Under the Food Regulations Act 1985, we are the only farm at the moment allowed to call our durians "Organic" in Malaysia.

We know of people paying RM28 per 'organic' durian fruit.  That's not our durians.  Our prices are much lower than that.

We know of sellers claiming their 'organic' durians are from Pahang.  That's not us, our farm is not fruiting this season.  We are 'resting' our trees.

When we sell our fruits, each individual fruit will have a S.O.M. sticker with our farm number which is SOM 04.03.

Sellers and farmers should be aware that labeling or representing your durians as 'organic' means the farm have a S.O.M. certificate, full stop.  If you don't have a S.O.M. certificate, you can't represent your durians as 'organic' under the law.  The penalty is stiff, a max fine of RM5,000 and or a jail term of 2 years. 

Getting S.O.M. certitication is free.  Please apply and get certified. 

Puan Norazlina, Head of the Agricultural Department, Bentong and Mohd Noor Azlan, Malaysian Organic Scheme auditor, together with their support staff,  conducted a compliance audit of the farm today.

A surprise distinguished visitor dropped by.

Tan Sri Tan Lai Kim, Puan Sri and son, Edmund

It is always a pleasure to see successful developers who are also into sustainability.

The new Head of Veterinary Services Department, Pahang, Dr. Muhammad Safaruddin and his assistant, Dr. Rohaya, came on a surprise visit to the farm today.

Sorry Doc, it has been raining for the past few days and the farm is a tad untidy.  Anyway, it's a pleasure to have met you and in spite of fasting and all, you and your assistant certainly impressed us with your professionalism.

Youthful 'senior', Lily Fu and her fellow 'Ramleans' came for a visit last week. 

They set the mood for the day right by being 15 mins early.  BTW the plastic bags you see in Lily's blog are made from biodegradable material and we provide them only for 'seniors'.  

We enjoyed seeing their reaction when sampling our fruits.  Non-clone, slow growing fruits and vegetables do taste better and are nutritionally superior!! 

Captain (Rtd) Zaman aka Eudrillus made a surprise visit with some officers from Mardi.

Captain Zaman with the crew-cut seeping coconut water and Zul and others from Mardi.

Captain Zaman asked about the keyhole raised beds.  Well, here they are and they keep on expanding....

And what is organic fruit farming without weaver ants or kerangga.  Here, they are used to get  rid of termites infesting a tree.

And our latest project, designing a proper home for stingless bees of which now, we have discovered, we have four species in the farm.

Temporary home.  The bees made this sail-like canvas to protect themselves from ants.

This is the design we are working on now as a permanent home for the bees; design from Utrecht University, Tobago.

The owners of one of the most established organic shops and restaurants, EcoGreen Organic, came visiting with some of their customers. We don't farm in 'secret' and we don't have 'show' farms.  And we don't believe organic farming should have anything to do with contract farming. WYSIWYG!

Here's a group photo.

The owner and head chef of EcoGreen, Sherene with  her daughter Li Hua, up close with our free-range, grassfed chickens.

Brig Gen (R) Dato' Adnan, who owns a training camp near DQ Farm and Mr. Wong the owner and CEO of EcoGreen smelling the 8 year old litter which all visitors must submit themselves to.

The food forest with its melor (jasmine) bushes to feed hives of local honey bees.  We have found that imported Italian bees all fall victim to the walit and layang-layang.  But the local honey bees tend to fly lower and are more aggressive than the Italians and survive well in the farm.

Stuff that we use in the farm to repel insects, to reduce fungal attacks, to boost the immune system of the chickens and to generally make the farm a place that first time visitors feel 'energised'.