Regenerating More Than Soil: Kokkoya Organics’ Caity Carlier Explains Their Organic Vision for Yangon

Kokkoya Organics’ beginnings could not be more down-to-earth if you tried. The project began in 2017 on a sandy, rubbish-strewn lot in Yangon’s North Dagon Township – but through patient, no-dig farming, the site grew into a thriving urban farm that now supplies fresh organic produce, hosts a farm-to-table café, and runs workshops and school programs that reconnect people with food and the natural world.

Over the years, Kokkoya has also built a trusted network of small organic farmers, helping them bring their produce to Yangon’s markets while championing soil health and regenerative practices. As Caity Carlier, co-founder of Kokkoya Organics, explains: “Our vision – to support the transition to organic, or now what we prefer to call regenerative farming – has always remained the same.”

That vision has carried Kokkoya through monsoons, market shifts, and even a pandemic, while opening new opportunities for women and young people in agriculture. In this interview, Caity showed us why sustainability, community, and regeneration remain at the heart of her team’s work.

What inspired you to co-found Kokkoya Organics?

Kokkoya started in 2017, and it’s important to remember that Yangon was a very different place at that time. After the 2015 election, there was a wave of new social enterprises. The city was buzzing with potential: everyone was suddenly online (really just on Facebook), and there was a feeling that people could finally pay attention to issues like social inequality and the environment.

In the middle of that energy, I was working at an organization that taught organic farming and leadership to youth from around the country. That’s where I met my co-founders: Sophia, Catherine, Khu Pawe, Nilar and Bo Hein.

We came together around some shared frustrations and hopes. Organic farmers didn’t have good access to markets, there was very little technical support, and there was a prevailing belief that organic farming was not financially viable.

We also cared deeply about creating space for women’s leadership in agriculture – five of our six co-founders are women.

We probably couldn’t have imagined back then what we would become, but our vision – to support the transition to organic, or now what we prefer to call regenerative farming – has always remained the same. Currently, Kokkoya Organics revolves around an urban farm in Yangon, and our main activities are delivering organic produce, operating a farm to table cafe and event space, baking sourdough bread in our wood oven and supporting a farmer network to build healthy soils.

How does a community supported agriculture (CSA) system work in the context of Kokkoya Organics, and why is it important?

CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, is a model used by many small farms around the world. One of the biggest challenges for small farms is cash flow: they need money upfront before planting begins, and they’re always vulnerable to things like pests, floods, or storms.

With CSA, customers essentially become shareholders in the farm’s growing season. It’s a bit like a subscription. People pay in advance (often for several months or a whole season) and then receive a weekly box of produce.

Usually, they don’t get to pick the items, which means they have to eat more seasonally, directly from whatever the land provides. For the farmer, it means both capital at the start of the season and a guaranteed market.

At Kokkoya, we ran a CSA for our first two years, and honestly, we miss it. It was perfect for us as new growers while we were still figuring things out – how much of each crop to plant, and even which crops we could successfully grow. For our customers, it was a tough way to eat because you had to be very creative and adaptable. But those early members stuck with us, and their support is a big part of why we’re still here today.

These days, we still offer subscription vegetable boxes, but since COVID we’ve also opened our shop to anyone, without the need to sign up. Accessibility became important and we want to make it as easy as possible for people to buy and eat organic food. That said, nothing quite compares to the sense of community a CSA builds, or the security it gives farmers.

How do activities like the Green Festival or Botanical Printing workshops connect participants more deeply with the farm’s mission?

Organic farming is deeply tied to our connection with nature – a connection that, for many people, is becoming more broken. Those who seek out organic food often care about the planet and their own health, and we believe the two are inseparable.

So our mission isn’t only to make organic food accessible, but also to provide a space for people to reconnect with the natural world.

Just last weekend, we hosted a birthday party where kids spent hours catching tadpoles. By the end, they were muddy, happy, and glowing. In a city like Yangon, it’s hard to find spaces like that; not only for kids, but for adults too. Nature has such a calming effect. Especially in Myanmar now, where so many of us feel stressed or even depressed, having a green space with birdsong and soil under your hands feels vital.

That’s why we’re always creating opportunities for people to experience the farm in different ways. Workshops, school visits, festivals, and even our café space all give people a chance to slow down, touch the earth, and remember what it feels like to be part of nature. Those moments make us proud and they’re at the heart of why we do what we do.

What are some of the main crops you grow year-round, and how do you decide what to plant each season? What solutions have you developed to address challenges like pests or bad weather and keep the farm productive? 

We grow a wide range of crops, but we’ve become known for leafy greens like rocket and kale that aren’t easily found in Yangon. The climate here is split into two distinct seasons, wet and dry. For many years we pushed ourselves to grow as much as possible even during the wet season, but it’s extremely difficult. The soil gets waterlogged and there’s not enough sunlight.

More recently, as our market reduced, we shifted our approach and now treat the monsoon as our “soil care season.” During that time, we experiment with cover crops and keep several kinds of compost working away. By September or October, we begin preparing our garden beds for the main growing season. In February the farm is at its most beautiful but we enjoy showing visitors the farm in every season.

In the last two years, we’ve gone much deeper into soil health practices. Every month, we run tests to track our progress, and we even use a microscope to study our compost – both ours and those from other farmers. We apply regular foliar sprays made from compost teas and other homemade nutrients, and we’ve shifted some of our practices too: we leave roots in the soil whenever possible, and we add lots of carbon by recycling coconut waste from a nearby factory into our pathways.

Since we started changing our practices, we have noticed that we get less pests and diseases. Our crops are healthier and the farm survives the monsoon better too.

Can you share more about your work with other small organic farmers and how you support them through your network?

We’ve been working with a network of organic farmers since our very first year. As mentioned, one of the reasons Kokkoya started was because there just wasn’t enough of a market for organic produce. So as soon as we were able, we tried to be that market.

Over time, we’ve built really strong and trusting relationships with the farmers we work with. Just as we try to make organic food as accessible as possible for our customers, we also try to make it as easy as possible for farmers to work with us.

We pay premium prices, we accept produce that’s imperfect or in small quantities, and above all, we aim to be supportive and fair. Farming is already hard enough – and organic farming even more so – so we never want to add extra pressure. Many of our farmers have been with us for years, and together we’ve faced more than our fair share of challenges.

Last year, we started something new with our farmer network: the Healthy Soils Project. It’s a pilot initiative that helps farmers track their soil health through six simple field tests. Farmers log the results into an app, which then connects to a dashboard visible to both farmers and customers. To support them through the transition to regenerative practices, we also provide a monthly transition payment. We see this as essential, because adopting new practices always adds risk and uncertainty, and farmers shouldn’t have to carry that burden alone.

What makes our project a little different from many other farmer programs is that we don’t prescribe solutions. We don’t tell farmers exactly what to do or push one-size-fits-all practices. Instead, we encourage them to make decisions based on their own context, because every farm is unique. The data they collect gives them feedback as to whether their practices are working and customers can see the effort farmers are going to to grow healthy food. Already, the data coming in has been fascinating, and farmers have given positive feedback. Our network includes lime farmers, peanut and sesame growers, vegetable producers, and rice farmers. Really, any farm with soil can be part of it.

Although we only started in December, the project has already shown us the power of combining farmer knowledge with simple tools and community support. We’re hoping to grow it further through crowdfunding, so that more people can directly support farmers who are doing this important work for all of us.

You mention regenerative in both your farm and business contexts, what does that mean for you?

Regenerative has become a bit of a buzzword, but I hope it will eventually become a mindset, not simply a branding term.

A regenerative mindset is a shift away from the current dominant view which is extractive and sees nature only as a commodity. Regeneration prioritizes cooperation, evolution, and the health of the entire system. People often attach it to a single context, like “regenerative agriculture” or “regenerative tourism,” but it should extend into everything we do.

A farm, for example, might use regenerative practices in the fields but still operate with a very extractive or reductive approach when it comes to people, whether that’s HR or business processes. For us, regeneration is something we try to weave through all aspects of our work – how we grow food, how we communicate, and even how we structure our business.

It isn’t easy. The old ways of thinking are deeply ingrained and hard to unlearn. But just like on the farm, whenever we manage to lean more into regeneration, we see and feel the difference. The changes are tangible, the energy feels right and there is more vibrancy and life around us.

Looking ahead, what are your long-term goals for Kokkoya and for promoting regenerative farming in Myanmar?

I am excited about our healthy soils project – it has so much potential to support farmers directly and to reshape how people understand the importance of soil.

Another big priority for Kokkoya in the next few years will be storytelling. We want to share more positive stories – about the soil itself, and about the farmers who care for it – because those stories can inspire and connect people across borders.

For more information, visit their website at kokkoyaorganics.com, or check out their Facebook page and Instagram page.