By Vanessa Hidalgo
Her early memories include crossing muddy pilapil (rice paddy ridge), planting rice, and drying palay along the road. It was no surprise, then, that she pursued agriculture for both her undergraduate and graduate studies.
Roots and realities
In 2008, Juca left her hometown to study — a move that would later take her across the Pacific. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, major in Agronomy, from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), then pursued a Master of Business and Science in Global Agriculture at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Returning from her studies abroad after more than a decade, she was saddened to see that nothing much had changed in her hometown, especially for the farmers she hoped to help.
“It was heartbreaking to be exposed to so many technological advancements across the world and then see your country still not maximizing the gains of digitalization. There’s just this desire to solve basic problems in the agri space using technology,” she says.
That realization became the seed for GOEden, a tech-driven initiative to empower farmers.
The idea for GOEden took shape during a brainstorming session with friends who shared a common goal: to address the pain points of farmers struggling to access agricultural supplies.
Juca adds that she also drew inspiration from her own long, inefficient trips to source supplies only to discover they were not available.
Pain points mapped
Juca and her team saw the gap in the agricultural value chain, particularly in farmers’ access to supplies.
To validate their assumptions, they mapped the customer journey and interviewed mor than 200 farmers across Luzon. The results revealed that limited access to quality inputs was a “massive pain point —not always obvious, but one that has a significant impact on farmers.”
In 2019, Juca left her full-time job as a project manager at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to establish GOEden with three co-founders — Jim Cano, Nathan Movillon, and Norence Tan.
The startup secured its first funding round in February 2023 and became fully operational by April 2024.
The founders named their online platform GOEden, inspired by the Garden of Eden as a symbol of God’s provision and abundance.
“We chose this name because we want to offer every product that is needed in agricultural and food production —reflecting abundance, variety, options, diversity, and access,” explains the 33-year-old Juca.
Taking tech to farmers
GOEden is a distinct online platform that focuses on agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilizers, tools and equipment, ensuring that all products are new and of high quality. It makes sure the fertilizers and pesticides are registered with the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority.
Its goal is to rebuild and gain the trust of farmers who have been vulnerable to scams and counterfeit products online.
The platform also supports small entrepreneurs by giving them access to a wider market for their products, while teaching them marketing strategies and proper business practices such as tax filing and preparing sales invoices.
Juca and her team run tech caravans in remote communities to educate farmers on agricultural inputs, spotting counterfeit products, and using farm tools correctly.
“These tech caravans are centered on farmer education. We break down the anatomy of a seed packet and a pesticide bottle in Filipino, teaching farmers what the labels mean and how to spot fake or expired products — so they win wherever they buy, whether from GOEden or other stores,” she explains.
Faith and grit
The early stages of GOEden were no easy feat for Juca. But her faith and deep passion for agriculture saw her through.
“When life is hard, I remember our farmers,” she says. “They till the land under the scorching heat. They work silently, without applause, yet they keep pushing even when the odds are stacked against them. They keep me grounded and they keep me going,” she adds.
Her determination to improve the state of agriculture is embodied in GOEden’s brand promise: to forge a just and trusted agricultural future for Southeast Asia—where food security is a shared responsibility, and no farmer is left behind.
As an entrepreneur, she vividly recalls the moment GOEden received orders from as far as Batanes — a validation that the platform could deliver value-added services to “reach the unreachable.”
“We offer not just assortment, but quality. We make sure that farmers get justice for every peso they spend on agri inputs—meaning seeds with high germination rates and quality inputs that contribute to a potentially good yield,” she says.
What’s next: From platform to mobile app
To cast a wider net, Juca plans to migrate the e-commerce platform into a mobile app, integrating AI-powered chat support to provide scientific and practical farming advice.
“Innovation doesn't always have to be grand and glamorous—it just needs to alleviate a pain point in whatever node of the agri value chain," she says.
Juca remains hopeful that, with stronger infrastructure in place, e-commerce can open more opportunities for farmers — giving them access to scientific data, modern agritech, and organic farming practices.
