BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

La Trinidad is the capital municipality of the province of

Benguet, Philippines. As early as the 19th century, historical
accounts show that the Spaniards introduced the process of
producing strawberries in La Trinidad, then known as
Benguet (Scott, 1975). During the early 1980s, La Trinidads
agricultural economy then was based on the vegetable
production, but the local government felt the need to diversify
their efforts to cutflower and strawberry production (Abalos,
1988). By the early 1990s, strawberry production became the
main source of livelihood that has proved beneficial to the
farmers

and

the

municipality.

La

Trinidad

is

being

commercialized but the government is trying their best to

preserve the agricultural areas such as the strawberry farm
because it is a source of tourism.
However, in the past few years, the Strawberry farm has
been barely meeting the markets demand. This is due to the
dwindling farming space caused by the influx of property
developers that prioritize constructing homes over the towns

famous strawberry farms, and flooding during wet seasons

which emanates from residential wastes clogging the
drainage system thus affecting the quality of products
(Quitasol, 2016).
Because of these known issues, the concept of Vertical
farming is to be utilized. Vertical farming can be defines as a
system of commercial farming where plants, animals, fungi,
and other life forms are cultivated for food, fuel, fiber or other
products or services by artificially stacking then vertically
above each other (Despommier, N.D.). This technique is well
suited for the Strawberry Farms of La Trinidad, Benguet, not only
because strawberries can be planted with dangling roots but
also it can save crops from being drowned and destroyed by
flood, thus increasing the production even during wet seasons
and saving up space in the diminishing area of the field. There
are different methods in planting that can be used in Vertical
farming: Hydroponics, which is growing plants using nutrients in
water without soil; Aeroponics, which is growing plants in the
mist environment; Aquaponics, which is grows plants and fish

in one integrated system; and the Seeding System (Pantanella,

2010).
The advantages of Vertical farming includes: Increase in
production and availability of crops, Production of organic
crops, Conservation and recycling of natural resources,
Environmental Friendly, and Sustainable urban growth. The key
issues in adopting Vertical farming are: that practices abroad
cannot be adopted for vertical farming due to variable
weather conditions; the variety of crops that can be
integrated in the system are limited; and farmers are not
familiar with the system of Vertical farming (Balodi, 2014).
Through the introduction of this system, the people to
benefit from the project are: the local farmers because their
production will increase; the surrounding environment; and the
culture of La Trinidad.

Reference/s:
1. William Henry Scott, History of the Cordillera, 1975
2. J. Abalos, Life of a Small Town Mayor, 1988
3. LT History Team, History of the people of La Trinidad,
2006
4. A. Quitasol, Lifestyle Section, InterAksyon.com, March
24, 2016
5. Recent Trends in Agriculture: Vertical Farming and
Organic Farming by Anirudh Garg and Rekha Balodi
(2014). Retrieved August 14, 2016 from
http://medcraveonline.com/APAR/APAR-01-00023.pdf