Deep Dive Podcast: What will it take for people to pay more for locally produced vegetables?

Food security is a critical issue for Singapore because it imports more than 90 per cent of its produce. The 30 by 30 goal - to grow 30 per cent of food locally by 2030 - aims to mitigate this but local farming is still struggling to create a viable ecosystem. Is it cost, consumers or commitment?

Steven Chia and Crispina Robert speak to Kenny Eng, a fourth-generation farmer and founder of The Local Farm, and Professor William Chen, director of the NTU Food Science and Technology Programme.

Jump to these key moments: 

• 1:20 Trouble for agri tech farms?
• 4:41 Why kale is expensive
• 8:33 Competing with cheaper options
• 17:55 Consumer demand is key
• 19:03 Our food security problem

Here's an excerpt from the podcast:

Steven Chia:

We know Singapore is land-scarce. So we've been going towards a more high-tech version, agri farming or agritech farming, right? So with that in mind, the initial costs are high to get all this technology. And you're saying because it's so different, every type of farm needs different things to it. 

Kenny Eng:

There are more things to it than a traditional farm - from the sensors to your parts. Most of them are imported. It depends on where you bring it from.  

Crispina Robert: 

So the capital expenditure is very high.  

Kenny:

When the government, SFA started this, there were a lot of grants available for all these high-tech farmers to tap on, and I believe majority of them would have tapped onto the funds to minimise what they have to invest in into respective farms.  

Steven:

So is it fair to say that the startup cost wasn't as exponential because they had grants to help them?  

Kenny: 

Provided they take the grants. So assuming that you take the grants, the initial capital is definitely high, depending on where you bring the technology from. But at the end of the day itself, there are grants available ... they have actually spent tons of money to help these farmers to have a good kickstart. They have the initial kickstart but that's only one part of the equation. 

Crispina:

Okay, so starting may not be the biggest problem that they had because they had money to tap into. They had the technology to tap into because of the likes of scientists and people who have these technologies to share. So then what's the problem? Why couldn't they last? 

Professor William Chen: 

At the beginning of any high-tech farm, they need to make a profit out of this farming practice. A lot of them are going into something that local consumers may not be so fanciful about like microgreens, kale. I mean, how much kale do we eat, right?  

Steven:

Okay, so instead of kale it should have been like maybe ... bok choy or something that more locals eat. Or kangkong. 

Prof Chen: 

Yeah, but those are low profits.

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