Food security through organic farming in Indonesia

Dear friends,

Thank you for your continued support to our farm! The past few months have been filled with different activities to continue our work and create more sustainable impact.

We’re Certified Organic Once Again!

We have some wonderful news to share: YUM Organic Farm has successfully renewed its Indonesian Organic Certification! This is a milestone we’re truly proud of, and one we couldn’t have reached without your support.

For us, this certification is so much more than a label. It means that everything we do, from how we grow our crops to how we handle each harvest, has been carefully reviewed and found to meet Indonesia’s organic standards. It’s a promise that what grows on our farm is produced with care for the land, respect for biodiversity, and the health of the people who enjoy it.

A farm where nothing goes to waste

One of our favorite parts of life on the farm is how everything comes full circle. Surplus organic vegetables, once simply discarded, are now mixed with rice bran, corn, and sorghum to make nutritious feed for our free-range native chickens. Their manure is then aged for six months and composted for another three, before returning to the fields as rich organic fertilizer. It’s a beautiful, continuous cycle where nothing is wasted and everything has a purpose.

Growing the next generation of farmers

What fills us with the most joy is seeing this wisdom passed on. Through our internship program, young people are learning hands-on, from building a feed bank to understanding how to use natural resources wisely. These are lessons our ancestors knew well, when farmers relied on balance and harmony with nature rather than synthetic chemicals.

We believe the future of farming isn’t only about growing healthy food. It’s also about sharing a way of thinking with those who will carry it forward.

Our biggest challenge: water

Like every farm, we also face challenges, and right now our biggest one is irrigation. Our current system relies on soil ditches that were dug by hand, and they simply aren’t able to carry water out to the river. Because our land was used for rice cultivation for decades, the soil has become clay-like, so water tends to sit in the fields instead of flowing away. That standing water causes root rot in our vegetables and puts our crops at real risk of failure during the rainy season.

We’re hoping to change that. By improving our irrigation with a more thorough mapping of our land, we can increase the farm’s water flow capacity, reduce the risk of flooding in our productive fields, and help ensure steadier harvests year after year.

This is where we’d love your help. Giving Tuesday is on December 1st, and GlobalGiving will have $500,000 in incentive funds available to boost donations made that day. That means your gift can go even further toward fixing our irrigation. We hope you’ll join us, and we’ll send you a reminder before the big day.

Thank you for being part of this journey with us!