The San Miguel Corporation head office, located right smack in the middle of the San Miguel avenue along the Ortigas central business district, has been turned into an urban garden that has yielded over 300 kilos of vegetables.
The bountiful harvest is a result of the “Backyard Bukid” (Backyard Farm) urban farming project that San Miguel started in 2021 tended to by the company’s maintenance, cleaning, and security staff.
One year after the project was implemented, the urban farm has yielded hundreds of kilograms of sweet potato, eggplant, kangkong (water spinach), green and romaine lettuce, bok choy, mustard, okra, siling labuyo (red chilies), pechay (Chinese cabbage), cilantro, winged beans, and kale.
“They use their harvest to either augment their personal food supply or to earn extra income by selling these to our employees,” San Miguel Corporation chairman Ramon Ang wrote on Facebook.
An urban farm is perhaps fitting for this property’s history — built in 1976, the head office’s signature low-rise design was designed by National Artist for Architecture Francisco Mañosa and his brothers, taking inspirational cues from the Banaue Rice Terraces.
Philippine landscape architecture founder Ildefonso Santos, another National Artist for Architecture, worked on the building’s landscape to introduce a greener look in 2006.
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