You may have a friend whom you struggle to pigeonhole or keep pace with, someone constantly abuzz with catholic interests and diffuse discussions spanning multifarious topics. Edward Loh is such an individual.
Today, the grizzled co-founder of Bioark is fervently dissecting the benefits of carbon sequestration in soil, which has been proven to mitigate erosion and flooding by improving ground water retention. He claims that his firm’s bio-organic fertiliser—formulated by burning organic matter such as agricultural waste—has the ability to not just capture carbon but also improve agricultural fertility and gut health by promoting soil microbial activity.
“We eat whatever mother earth eats, including the chemicals we feed her. So, if you want to look at the big picture you must restore the earth’s health before we can talk about our own,” analogises Loh, who adds that he also started another company that cultivates spirulina, a type of microalgae, to capture carbon.
It’s a lot to process for a morning interview backed by the intermittent hiss of a coffee machine, and I wonder aloud how a former director and photographer wended his way into the science-intensive agri-technology industry.
At the end of the day, pivoting towards a regenerative world needs a lot of commitment from commercialised projects.
Edward Loh on sticking to environmental goals
For decades, Loh had conjured up smoke and mirrors for the rapacious advertising industry, shooting hyper-processed campaigns for global brands including The Coca-Cola Company, Volkswagen and Singapore Airlines. At one point, he even ran a café with singer JJ Lin. Then in 2018, a volunteer trip to rural China to trace his roots compelled him to burrow into microbial farming as a counterpoint to toxic chemical fertilisers.
“I was adopted and don’t know my parents, but since I’m proud to be Chinese, I wanted to go back and contribute. I didn’t consciously step into the green space,” he reveals. Apart from manoeuvring drones to film the countryside for regional marketing initiatives, he also helped set up a mushroom farm to supplement the livelihoods of locals.
The not so accidental sustainable farming acolyte, who once travelled to Okinawa to study enzymes, later partnered Jeremy Chua—the former co-founder of urban farming pioneer ComCrop—to start Bioark. Together, they plan to implement their closed-loop bio-organic solution in farming collectives, helping them to parlay their waste into fertiliser onsite to lighten the carbon footprint of importing fertilisers.
And if their hypothetical business model shakes out according to plan, product costs will be funded by large corporations seeking to comply with their ESG obligations. This may satisfy the overriding agenda, considering the concerto of lofty climate targets chorused the world over, including Singapore’s pledge to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
“We can’t be shifting the goal posts because we think economies will be bad, because we cannot tell the world to slow down and wait for us to catch up. At the end of the day, pivoting towards a regenerative world needs a lot of commitment from commercialised projects,” Loh asserts.
Though his plans to scale up production of Bioark’s fertiliser may have hit a snag due to pandemic travel restrictions, he’s now ready to swing into full gear, and has already made overtures to relevant individuals in Algeria and Mongolia.
The creative soul admits to being something of a free-wheeling maverick who as a teenager, spun at mobile discos together with DJ Rodney Monteiro. But he insists his current pursuit is trained on a zeitgeist, rather than a phase.
“My goal for the next part of my life is to make an impact, and what better to tell than the greatest story of our generation, that of climate change and food security?”
Photography: Mun Kong
Styling: Chia Wei Choong
Hair: Jenny Ng, using Schwarzkopf Professional
Makeup: Priscelia Wong, using Estée Lauder
Photography Assistant: Hizuan Zailani
