Farmville is a Facebook game that I love to play because it reinforces the value of farming, planting, taking care of trees and animals though there is a time associated for harvesting it greatly underestimates the effort and patience in doing farming in real life.

When I was a kid, we would visit my dad’s province for a few days and when I was much more “matured” 🙂 I was able to visit my mom’s province.  The travel to the north and the south made me realize how weather and accessibility to water really plays an important role in farming and I could see that the north is really dry and brown but the south is lively and green.  This I think also impacts how they handle money, but that is another story altogether.

Now going back…

I have always dreamed of having my own farm or having a plantation of mango trees but let’s face it, I’m a city girl through and through.  This was validated when I went on a farm visit in Aug last year and looking out for any potential lots to lease or buy and see the feasibility of doing my own farm. It dawned on me that I was open to partnering in terms of financial requirements and maybe I can spend 1-2 days in a week there but if you asked me to be there for 5 days I think I will lose it.  First, I need internet connection. Second, I am not an early riser.

That’s why I am so happy that there is FarmOn because it made investing in farm products easier by doing it through a website.  The beauty of this concept is giving people the opportunity to invest and at the same time to help out the farmers.  I started in the 8^th cycle (Nov 2015) and since then I have “owned” chicken, peking duck, an assortment of vegetables and last year my dream of having a mango tree came true (but not yet the plantation, hahaha).

My strategy, which may not work for you, I only did an initial investment in Nov 2015 and I just reinvest the capital plus the profit.  So, if a new cycle opens and the products are not yet harvested then I would not invest during that cycle.

FarmOn has made some improvements by having more farms, having new products like the Fish Pond and it is also available as an App in Google Play.

I admire FarmOn and other companies, even those that do not have their website for doing online investing, for putting up these kind of businesses as we need for farmers.  Though I really encourage farmers to create a website because we have a lot of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who wants to invest.  For OFWs, as a way of giving back and helping Philippine economy, let us support more farmers or see if you have a nearby cooperative you can support or visit Cooperative Development Authority website.

Reminder: Please do your due diligence before investing your hard earned money.  Please invest in a responsible and proper way by ensuring you have Emergency Fund, you have Adequate Protection or Insurance and you will only invest the money that you are willing to lose.

P.S.

If you are interested in investing in FarmOn, the 14^th cycle is open for registration until 15^th May 2017 and start of real time farming for successful registrants is 15^th June 2017.  For new registrants, if you need a referral, you can use my email address: wengfeliciano@yahoo.com.

For the 14^th cycle, I invested in mango, citrus, squash and fish pond, with harvest duration of minimum 4 to 14 months across the product portfolio.