Cover Baristas showcase pour-over coffee brewing at a specialty coffee event
Baristas showcase pour-over coffee brewing at a specialty coffee event
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Coffee alone cannot solve the world’s food challenges, says 2026 Gen.T Leader of Tomorrow Ariestelo Asilo. But by rebuilding one value chain—from soil to livelihoods—it can demonstrate how resilient food systems should work
When Ariestelo Asilo talks about coffee, he rarely begins with flavour.
Instead, he talks about soil, climate, farmers, nutrition, logistics, technology, data and public health. Asilo sees each of these links as determinants of whether a community thrives or struggles.
For the entrepreneur and social innovator behind Varacco and ThinnkFarm, coffee is not simply an agricultural product. It is one of the clearest ways to understand why the Philippines’ food system succeeds in some places, falters in others and what it will take to make it more resilient.
“Coffee isn't just a crop. It’s a network,” he says. “It connects soil health, climate patterns, the livelihoods of farmers, youth employment, logistics, retail, export markets, public health through nutrition and income stability.”
That single idea underpins his leadership. Rather than treating coffee as a commodity to be bought and sold, Asilo treats it as a living system—one capable of exposing the structural weaknesses that continue to undermine Philippine agriculture.
At a time when governments, businesses and consumers often tackle food security as a series of isolated problems—whether rising prices, climate change or declining farm productivity—Asilo argues that the real challenge lies in how those problems interact. A weak harvest is rarely just about weather. It may stem from degraded soil, limited financing, outdated farming practices, fragmented supply chains or a lack of reliable data. Fixing only one part rarely strengthens the whole.
“Food, the environment, economics and human dignity are intertwined,” he explains. “If we fix coffee well, we are actually fixing multiple layers of the food system.”
Read more: Gen.T Leaders of Tomorrow 2026: meet the leaders powering the Philippines’ future
Above Freshly picked coffee cherries are gathered in a bag, the first step in creating fine coffee (Photo: Varacco)
Freshly picked coffee cherries are gathered in a bag, the first step in creating fine coffee (Photo: Varacco)
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A trained nutritionist from the University of the Philippines Los Baños, later earning a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of the Philippines and now pursuing a doctorate in Sustainability, Asilo has spent his career at the intersection of science, entrepreneurship and rural development. He describes this approach as “nutripreneurship”—the idea that improving nutrition begins long before food reaches the plate, by strengthening the systems that produce it.
His ventures reflect that thinking. Through Varacco and ThinnkFarm, Asilo combines precision agroforestry, Internet of Things (IoT) technology and climate-smart farming with farmer education and enterprise development. Together, the organisations support more than 400 smallholder coffee farmers across Cavite and Mindanao, including women, young people and indigenous communities, helping build more resilient livelihoods while improving productivity.
The work extends beyond coffee itself. Early in his career, Asilo co-authored the feasibility study for an eight-kilometre farm-to-market road in Lobo, Batangas. Supported by a World Bank grant, the infrastructure now connects rural communities to markets—an early illustration of his belief that lasting agricultural progress depends as much on systems as on crops.
That systems perspective shapes how he diagnoses the country’s food challenges.
The Philippines, he argues, remains vulnerable not simply because of climate change or volatile commodity prices, but because its agricultural systems have struggled to modernise. Smallholder farmers often operate ageing farms with limited access to financing, reliable data and technology, while younger generations increasingly see little future in agriculture. “The vulnerability today isn’t just about supply,” Asilo explains. “It’s about whether rural systems can adapt fast enough.”
Read more: Can Philippine coffee scale up without leaving farmers behind?
Above Members of Varacco’s farmer-scientist meticulously sift materials for quality coffee cultivation (Photo: Varacco)
Members of Varacco’s farmer-scientist meticulously sift materials for quality coffee cultivation (Photo: Varacco)
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Above Members of Varacco’s farmer-scientist community gather to learn more about climate-smart agriculture, digital tools and sustainable coffee cultivation (Photo: Varacco)
Members of Varacco’s farmer-scientist community gather to learn more about climate-smart agriculture, digital tools and sustainable coffee cultivation (Photo: Varacco)
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His response is not to replace traditional farming with technology, but to make farmers better equipped to make decisions.
Through ThinnkFarm, growers use sensors and digital tools to monitor soil moisture, nutrients and microclimates, allowing more precise responses. The technology complements, rather than replaces, local knowledge.
“These digital tools don’t replace farmers,” Asilo says. “They augment their judgement and increase their confidence.”
That distinction offers a lesson beyond agriculture. As organisations race to embrace artificial intelligence and automation, Asilo shows that technology creates the greatest value when it expands human capability rather than diminishes it.
Yet perhaps the most overlooked part of his work is its emphasis on dignity.
Years working alongside farming communities have convinced him that the greatest threat is not only declining yields, but declining confidence. When families begin to believe farming no longer offers a future, succession breaks down. Young people leave. Knowledge disappears. Communities weaken.
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Dignity is about the ability to feel confident. To believe that the next generation won’t just survive, but enjoy the resources we’re enjoying now.
Seen through that lens, coffee becomes more than an agricultural product. It is a testing ground where regenerative farming, digital agriculture, scientific training, infrastructure and market access can be integrated into one ecosystem. If these principles succeed in coffee, Asilo believes they can be adapted to crops such as cacao, rice, vegetables and durian.
He is careful not to overstate the point.
“Coffee is not the solution to everything,” he says. “But it can demonstrate what a working food system looks like.”
That measured optimism is what makes Asilo’s leadership compelling. He is less interested in presenting coffee as a miracle crop than in proving that complex systems can be repaired when leaders resist treating problems in isolation.
The lesson applies as readily to boardrooms as it does to farms.
Whether the challenge is food security, organisational transformation or climate resilience, durable solutions rarely come from fixing one issue at a time. They require leaders willing to examine the relationships between seemingly unrelated problems—and to build systems that allow people, businesses and communities to flourish together.
Ariestelo Asilo is among Gen.T Leaders of Tomorrow 2026 from the Philippines. Explore the full list.
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Syrah is Tatler Philippines’ Power & Purpose editor, where she spotlights extraordinary journeys shaping the Philippines and Asia. She covers business, innovation, impact, and culture—chasing the people, ideas and forces shaping how we live and think today.
