Daring to be different

Seven years ago, Nongluck Asavasakulchai, now 53, left her job as a nurse in the capital to become a farmer in her hometown in Nakhon Phanom, about 715km northeast of Bangkok. There, in 2014, she founded Community Enterprise Rice Processing Tambon Ban Phueng (Khaowsook) after the price of rice hit record lows. Her goal was to find alternative options and the solution she turned to was organic rice.

Starting from 19 members in the first year, the group now has 2,400 members who produce about 4,000 tonnes of organic rice every year. Over 70% of their produce is for export with major customers located in Europe, Canada, the United States and Hong Kong.

“Being a…