Almost 10 months after we started the series of Wagyu, Sorghum & Soybeans Forum in General Santos City in November 2025, we now see the birth of the Philippine Wagyu Industry, the newest lucrative farming activity in the country.
It was Cattle Nutrition Expert Arnel Corpuz, an 11-year veteran in Wagyu rearing and fattening in Australia, who opened my awareness to the vastly unexplored potentials of high-value Cattle farming in the Philippines.
Indeed, if Japanese farmers could raise a few heads of Wagyu in their backyard and make handsome profits, this could also be done by Filipino farming families, as well.
That vision started the nationwide journey of the small advocacy group which we formed, The Farm Innovations, Solutions, & Technologies Company (The FIST Company), during which we were able to establish the following:
- Wagyu Farming, supported by a well-planned forage production program, offers great opportunities for Filipino farmers given the high demand for the premium beef projected to grow from USD 27.4 billion in 2025 to USD 45 billion by 2033;
- Farmers are willing to embrace modern Cattle Farming Technology introduced by Arnel Corpuz, a veteran Filipino Cattle Feeder who managed a 30,000-head Wagyu Feedlot in Australia and agriculture entrepreneurs are willing to invest in Wagyu Farming;
- Institutional buyers of the premium Wagyu Beef, including S & R Convenience Stores, have manifested their interest in buying locally produced Beef, especially the premium Wagyu Beef;
- Many of the participants in the forums we conducted showed great interest because they have the area for the paddocks and Sorghum forage production but they could not join the Wagyu Production Program because of the huge initial investments needed to acquire a Wagyu Breeding herd.
The Philippine Wagyu Production Program which I and my team composed of Arnel Corpuz and a group of young Veterinarians led by Dr. Roland Fajardo have designed has identified the five critical components to ensure its success – Marketable Commodity (Wagyu), Interested Participants (Farmers and Agri-Entrepreneurs), Technology (Modern Cattle Breeding & Raising), Financing and Insurance (Banks, PCIC) and Ready Market.
Of the five components, it is the participation of Banks and Government Financing Institutions which we have not covered yet.
Today, the country’s primary Agricultural Bank, the Land Bank of the Philippines has finalized a loaning program which would allow farmers and even small entrepreneurs to avail of a Cattle Production Loan with 3% interest annually.
Now, we are ready to bring in the first batch of the Wagyu breeders of 346 heads as of today but this is not without a hitch.
Since the number of heads of Cattle is too small to fill even a 2,000-capacity Livestock Vessel from Australia, we are making arrangements with other Cattle importers to allow us to load our herd in their chartered vessel.
This is, however, a minor challenge compared to the daunting task of opening the minds of our farmers and small agricultural entrepreneurs to the exciting prospects of Wagyu Farming.
We will overcome!
