063http://www.wnd.sgDOWN TO EARTH
Farm deLight practices a soil-based agriculture using
organic fertilisers to produce their variety of micro
cresses, even temperate country ones, all year round. Trials
and tests when the farm was set up some five years ago
convinced them to stick to soil as the plants would take
in more nutrients and have the most flavour this way.
Edmund recalls a time when he was knocking on the doors
of fine-dining restaurants. At Odette, chef Julien Royer
remarked that if he was offering hydroponically grown
produce, he could forget about making his pitch. When he
assured the chef that he was growing with soil, they talked
for another hour, and that’s how his Greek basil ended up
being used in Odette’s kitchen. Soil aside, he believes the
focus on micro cresses is the right one, not only because
they are relatively fast-growing, but because they harbour
plenty of nutrients—sometimes even more than that in
full-grown plants. As such, he sees potential for micro
cresses to feature even more commonly in salads and is
working to grow that demand.
He credits Sandro Falbo, former executive chef of
Fullerton Hotel Singapore and the Fullerton Bay Hotel
for helping him a lot in the early years. Other early
clients include The Naked Finn, Regent Singapore and
The St.Regis Singapore. The chefs showed him what
they wanted and he did a lot of tinkering at the farm to
meet their requirements and more. A lot of it was about
thorough follow-up, and he says even till today, he does a
lot of metric testing to see which LED lights best suit the
plants, and if he could improve the irrigation system or
automate even more to make the farm more efficient.
Edmund’s methodical approach to running the farm
can be traced to his engineering background. Years in
semiconductors and technical sales support had taught
him to solve problems immediately, to get to the root
cause, and importantly, to be precise. He says, “In the
semiconductor industry for phones or audio systems, there
were always certain specs we had to reach. When I was
showing samples of my produce to chef Michael of the
former Joël Robuchon, Singapore, he wanted the cresses
to be uniform and within certain specifications, down
to the cm. For the next three samples, I gave him exactly
what he wanted. I even ended up coming up with a data
sheet, just like the ones we used in the semiconductor
industry. Initially my catalogue had a lot of data, which
the fine dining restaurants appreciated. Most of the chefs
appreciate consistent quality.”Top Edmund Wong
Opposite page, from top Pea shoots in their
later stage of growth; A little farm tucked away in a
biscuit factory