Singapore farms boost egg and vegetable output amid rising costs, bad weather
To keep goods affordable for customers, these farms are using automation, AI and joint logistics to manage manpower and transport challenges.
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SINGAPORE: Some egg and vegetable farms have increased production over the past year and are planning further expansion, after strengthening demand through marketing efforts and closer ties with wet markets.
But challenges are mounting.
Farmers in Singapore told CNA that their concerns include adverse weather as well as rising fertiliser, feed and fuel costs linked to the ongoing Middle East conflict.
To stay resilient while keeping prices affordable, they are turning to automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and joint logistics to manage manpower and transport needs.
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AI TO DETECT DEFECTIVE EGGS
At Seng Choon Farm, one of Singapore’s three remaining local egg producers, selling its products rather than ramping up output has been the main hurdle.
Building demand for local eggs has been a slow and steady process, but it said its efforts have paid off.
Over the past three years, the farm has grown output by about 3 to 5 per cent annually and now produces about 600,000 eggs a day.
With tightening manpower constraints, it has increasingly relied on robotic systems to reduce labour-intensive processes.
“It helps with us retaining our workforce because we are not attracting new people,” said its managing director Koh Yeow Koon.
“What we see is that our workforce is getting older and older. In order to enable them to work longer, we adopt all this automation and all this redesign of work scopes to make their jobs easier.”
Over the past two years, Seng Choon has invested more than S$2 million (US$1.58 million) to upgrade its quality control system, including using AI image recognition to detect defective eggs.
The upgraded system scans up to 125,000 eggs per hour with a 360-degree view, identifying cracks and dirt with about 98 per cent accuracy - up from 95 per cent previously using the older system.
Despite these improvements, cost pressures are building, said Mr Koh.
Seng Choon Farm is monitoring feed prices for its 800,000 chickens closely, which could rise further due to higher fertiliser costs and weather disruptions such as El Nino - a climate phenomenon that is expected to drive record-high temperatures and alter rain patterns.
El Nino conditions could develop as soon as May to July, according to the United Nations' weather and climate agency.
The farm also faces increased expenses for fuel and packaging amid the Middle East conflict. For now, it says it has avoided passing these costs on to retail customers.
IMPACT ON VEGETABLE FARMING
The weather is also a concern for vegetable producers like Straits Agriculture.
Prolonged rain over the past few weeks has slowed production at the urban rooftop farm - which began producing food in 2024 - due to reduced sunlight.
Still, the farm has managed to double its production volume since December last year by expanding beyond its greenhouse.
Founder Leonard Teo said the move was necessary to support growing partnerships with wet markets.
“If we are trying to work with more wet markets, then we need to have a more consistent supply. Certain plants that we are trailing now can be grown outdoors, still pesticide-free, under the elements - things like our xiao bai cai and nai bai (milk cabbage or baby bok choy) have been showing good progress,” he noted.
The farm is prioritising higher-value crops in its greenhouse while shifting more resilient ones outdoors, avoiding the high costs of building additional greenhouse space.
Like egg producers, it is also feeling the impact of higher fuel costs. Mr Teo said delivery expenses have risen by 42 per cent since February due to the Middle East conflict.
To manage this, the farm has partnered with other producers to consolidate their deliveries, bringing costs down by 20 per cent.
“If I were to keep my same delivery schedule as I did back in June 2025, we're looking at about a 60 per cent increase in transport,” Mr Teo said.
“We managed to work out and engage some of our customers to streamline certain deliveries, and this also includes working with other farms as well, to combine our deliveries together into a ‘single shot’.”
Even as farms scale up and collaborate to manage costs, climate conditions remain a key uncertainty.
Mr Teo pointed out that forecasts have predicted more rain over the next two weeks.
“That’s going to be quite a headache for me, because when it rains, there’s less sunlight … we can mitigate this with different nutrients, but it only does so much,” he added.
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