Inspiration from a chicken farmer

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Mid 2010, burnt out and restless I made up my mind to move out from working within the landscape of big corporation to focus on projects I was passionate about. On a journey to find my niche, I freelanced as a strategic communications consultant and radio documentary producer. I was lucky to land projects with progressive clients. One such client supported a concept for a radio documentary called Hear and Now in Malaysia and the show became the first locally produced radio documentary series for BFM 89.9.

As I set out producing the show, I met many interesting Malaysians, including farmers and agriculturalists. I first met Mr. Wong while producing a Hear and Now episode on agriculture in Malaysia .While he was critical about local agriculture policies he provided many viable alternatives. Two things happened after this conversation.

I immediately rushed out to buy one of his DQ Grass Fed Chicken for a Sunday roast and I started reminiscing about my dad and grandfather’s organic composting farm a lot.

Totally inspired by his vision and commitment to offer the local market a healthier, ethical choice of grass fed chickens, I was determined to learn more and showcase his work to a wider audience. And so when an opportunity came up to showcase businesses doing things differently, this video about the chicken industry was produced with support from my then clients the Economic Transformation Programme, PEMANDU. We created this video in 2012 and the salient point remains the same; can there be healthier more sustainable sources of food? I say yes. Watch this video for an example of a brilliant Malaysian raising chickens differently.

The visit to Mr Wong’s farm kick started my Permaculture journey and reconnected me to my roots in agriculture. The compost heap on his farm transported me back to my days as a young girl on my dad’s and grand father’s organic composting farm. Up till then I was only composting at home but after our conversations on bio-mimicry, agroforestry, designing spaces to integrate human habitat and food production, composting, working with nature not against it and ethical dilemmas surrounding how we produce and sell food, I was compelled to act. I am still learning a lot from Mr Wong and would recommend his blog to anyone wanting inspiration and information on local agroforestry. His chickens taste awesome too!