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[b]The Agriculturalist, Part One[/b]

Archibald Santos was born to a middle-class family of import-export traders in Manila who had prospered in peace under the American occupation, and even gave their son an English name as a sign that they wanted to emulate the people who had, for all their flaws, brought peace and order to the Philippines. Archibald was even given a scholarship to study in the United States itself, due to his' doing well in his studies at home. With naive anticipation, he had allowed himself to be shipped via boat and train to Minneapolis, where he had met a brilliant fellow student, Norman Borlaug. Borlaug and him were friends, despite the attitude of the campus towards Nonwhites, and both of them cooperated in advancing agricultural research.

But as the Great Depression drew on, and the Second American Civil War began to rumble, Archibald Santos had to leave the University of Minneapolis, leaving behind his friend to die in a riot against the MacArthur Junta. By then, however, there were irreconcilable differences between their approaches that would have led to enmity had he stayed and his friend lived.

Archibald walked through the dirt trails criss-crossing the new 'experimental farms' the Government had leased from the local smallholders, wearing only a simple white shirt and tough jeans - only his glasses, clipboard, and escort of aides marked him as an official. As he did so, the middle-aged man mused about those irreconcilable differences. Borlaug wanted to develop new breeds of rice and wheat, to spread the use of fertilizers and pesticides all across the world. Archibald wanted to use more potatoes and sweet potatoes in agriculture, agruing for their nutritional superiority to rice and grain. As he and his escort stopped to record the amount of crops being harvested, Archibald mused that he hadn't changed his mind; he had just included new and better ways of farming rice in his [i]own[/i] agricultural revolution.

Looking around him, Archibald can now see that the farmers had adopted his recommendations well, constructing a system of deep sinks and raised beds*, the former which took in water in the rainy seasons and allowed for the farming of rice and ginger (there were deeper ponds for fish), and the latter which allowed for the growth of dryland crops, including the Sigarilyas/Winged Bean**, a plant that, just like peas and other legumes, added to the fertility of the soil by naturally extracting nitrogen from the air. Another plant Borlaug had neglected in favor of rice and wheat.

One of the farmers waved at him; it was Danilo, the headman of the nearby village. He had been the person Archibald had to pay to change the way he and his people dug up their fields and rice paddies and adopt this new 'Filipino Cropping System'. Now, carrying a large sack of rice over his shoulder, Danilo approached him, saying:

"[i]Kaibigan (Friend)![/i] You were right! Not just that, but the next village - the one you paid to plant potatoes, they're having the best harvest of their lives as well!" The brown-faced, wrinkled farmer, clad in a mud-stained white shirt and red trousers - how like a [i]Katipunero[/i] - was smiling at Archibald, but did not show him any deference. That was what the Agriculturalist was going for. Archibald smiled widely, gave his clipboard to one of his aides, and embraced Danilo, getting his booted feet wet in the mud too.

The embrace lasted for a few brief moment, before Archibald said, "So, will you spread the word? The Federal Government cannot pay every vilage to change the way they do things." [i]Or keep the stuff that does work; Borlaug would have advised farmers to buy fertilizer from abroad instead of just using crop rotation.[/i]

Danilo continued to smile; a signal of agreement, before he said, "So, want to eat dinner with my family?"

Archibald's grin was wide as he thought of how increased agricultural profits had allowed Danilo and his village to afford brick houses instead of just straw huts. "Sure; can my aides come?"

Danilo would have balked in olden days, but with the rich harvest he had received just now, and the profits that had come from adopting this new way of planting crops, he can now afford such expense. He extended his hand to Archibald for him to shake, and said: "My wife and children would be happy to receive your group."

Archibald would then muse; once dinner was done, he planned to announce a new gift; a set of new plows made up of steel mixed with chromium, made as a proof-of-concept by the Federal Steel Enterprise. That ought to be a surprise... 

*[url=http://www.philrice.gov.ph/philrice-adopts-sorjan-cropping-system/]IRL Sorjan Cropping System[/url].

**https://nutrition1.knoji.com/winged-bean-nutrition-and-health-benefits/
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