This article appeared in Issue 782 (June 5) of The Edge Singapore
SINGAPORE (June 5): Grey-haired and sun-scorched, William Ho is running out of time. Before his lease ends in two years, the quail egg farmer will have to secure funding and find suitable technology to bid for a new plot of agricultural land, as the country makes an unequivocal push for high-tech farming.
Ho is no stranger to agricultural technology. Lian Wah Hang, the farm his father built, had some of the most advanced farming machinery in the 1960s. At the peak of its profitability in 1997, the farm was earning $5,000 a day. But a series of unfortunate events — two relocations in 10 years, bird flu and SARS — as well as competition from cheaper Malaysian imports have made it a shadow of its former self.