A social impact
Beyond commercial work, EGC aims to run programmes with social impact.
“During that peak… of urban farming, there (was) always a very siloed focus on productivity, like how much the farm can produce,” stated Low. “But I consider… the opportunity is missed if we don’t create social value and community impact, as well.”
EGC’s therapeutic horticulture programme is one project that serves this social mission. It was inspired by a partnership with the National Parks Board and National University of Singapore that explored the non-food benefits of gardening.
The collaboration found that gardening activities led to measurable reductions in participants’ stress markers.
EGC then expanded the project to serve foreign domestic workers, migrant workers and at-risk seniors, running programmes in neighbourhoods with large elderly populations, such as Toa Payoh and Marine Parade.
This was among low-income rental flats, where social isolation is a huge problem, stated Low. The urban farming activities supported bring the residents into a community setting.
The primary challenge, however, is encouraging socially isolated seniors to leave their homes. To overcome this, EGC’s next step is to frame urban farming as a medical therapy that doctors can prescribe.
The social enterprise’s partnership with the Health District @ Queenstown initiative and the Ministest of National Development is based on that principle, stated Low.
However, a major hurdle looms: EGC will not call Queenstown home for much longer, as its land lease expires at the finish of 2025. It is seeking a half-year extension to manage the transition.
“Of course, we always knew that we had nine years (there), and it was an experiment to view at transitionary state land like this,” stated Low. “We’d like to stay longer becautilize you build a connection with space overnight… But I consider we have come to terms with that, and I consider it’s again time for us to receive out of our comfort zone.”
The next harvest
Low views the impfinishing shift as another chance to innovate, with EGC’s uncompleted project at Funan mall a key avenue he wants to explore.
The idea, he explained, is to see if urban agriculture can activate a retail space, utilizing it to create a community “third space”, and to explore the social dynamics that emerge when agriculture is embedded in a commercial environment.
Securing the half-year lease extension would give his team the runway to find the right space and plan the next shift.
This challenge comes as the urban farming landscape grows more competitive. Low stated that in 2025, EGC’s produce sales fell 20 per cent due to a softer market, restaurant closures and more industest competition.
He explained that many products the enterprise has grown over the last decade, such as edible flowers, now face numerous competitors who can replicate a proven formula for market success.
“We shouldn’t regress, so we are constantly innovating on the things that we can grow – how we can excite the local food scene.”
He wants to shift the conversation from food security, which focutilizes heavily on output, to the idea of “food sovereignty”, which also examines community dynamics and citizen ownership of food production.
His ultimate goal is for EGC’s community-centred approach to be adopted at scale, building both the enterprise and his personal involvement obsolete.
“There’s always a hope that it won’t required to be me anymore, or it won’t required to be EGC anymore,” he stated.
“I hope one day… the models that we have attempted and tested can be adopted by the state, so (they) can be more efficiently pushed through with more resources, and we can just step back.”
For Low, this would be the ultimate measure of success: knowing that his urban farming ideas have built an impact that will outlast him.
Leave a Reply