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    FarmOn: a virtually real farming experience

    TechnologyAppsFarmOn: a virtually real farming experience

    FarmOn

    A lot of us have wasted many hours pointing, clicking, planting, and harvesting crops in FarmVille. There were even times I seriously considered using real life money to take care of my virtual farm – one that yields no profits even with heavy investment. On the plus side, the game did teach me some farming nuances such as crop yield, effective crop patterns, and harvest schedules.

    If a virtual game enabled me to care about a non-existent farm, how much more would I care if my online actions have real-world equivalents? I honestly enjoyed waiting for hours on end for my crops to sprout in FarmVille. How much more if I was actually waiting for real plants to get ready for harvest?

    I could try planting by myself but in the times that I tried, the only things I were able to grow were monggo beans and mold. For those like me who’ve no farming skills or time to plant but want the satisfaction of being involved in the farming process, there is FarmOn.ph

    FarmOn is a farm management game wherein players are tasked with managing and investing in a real farm, planting and harvesting real crops, taking care of real animals, and working with real farmers to reap real earnings. The magic happens in a two-hectare land in Santiago City, Isabela.

    FarmOn may seem to be just a game console to an ordinary onlooker but to us it is a movement to revolutionize farming in the Philippines with an end goal of helping us to become self-sufficient in terms of agricultural products in the future. Through this group we will create a new farming culture. We will involve the whole Filipino community and bring on a new generation of farmers,” says FarmOn Founder and Managing Director Teodulo Otoman II.

    Aspiring FarmOners need to pre-register on FarmOn’s website and specify their farm size as well as the plants and animals they want to have on their farm. Once registration is approved and paperwork is accomplished, investors will be given access to the game’s console, their bare farm, crops and livestock, as well as communication with a farmer who will turn their virtual vision into reality. Besides the game console from which the FarmOner manages his farm, he also has real-life video feed of his investment. Once ready for harvest, the player chooses what to do with his products, from selling them to the market to picking them up himself. Investors can also rest assured that FarmOn will replace their crops free of charge in case they are destroyed by calamities such as typhoons.

    To ensure high-quality yields that provide the best profits, the farmers are supervised by farm masters and experts who know the latest innovations in farming technology and techniques. This includes representatives from the Department of Agriculture.

    Registration to this innovative farming vision started last June 15 and will be running up to July 31, with actual farming to start on September 1, 2014. Only 200 people will initially be given access to FarmOn’s game console, so ready your virtual hoes and race on to their website here.

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