DELEEN Powell has her dream job. She is public relations officer at the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA). But the pretty, well-spoken, 30-year-old university graduate is also a farmer with a drove of 40 pigs she calls her biggest priority.

She has no intention of giving up her nine-to-five, but as she articulates it, the farming venture fulfils some important needs, not least of which is the provision of a second income stream.

“I love my job. I love my job. I love my job. It is the perfect cross between my love for communication and my passion for environmental preservation,” Powell insisted during a recent interview at the Jamaica Observer’s Beechwood Avenue head office.

But on weekends, the creative, fun-loving and ambitious Mandeville-born young woman travels to St Elizabeth to care for her pigs.

“I don’t have any children. These pigs are my babies. They are my primary concern right now. I go to bed thinking about them at night, and they are the first thing I think about when I wake in the mornings,” Powell confesses.

It has been just under two years since she and an overseas business partner set up the farming operation in the rural St Elizabeth community of Brae’s River. Powell, who has been working at NEPA for about three and a half years, said that the idea was initially that of her business partner. She had always been interested in anything to do with the environment but did not think that it would have been animal-rearing or anything in agriculture for that matter.

“I love broadcasting, and always thought of a ‘side business’; I thought that that’s what I would be doing on the side,” she said.

Powell said she settled on pig-rearing because she realised, after much research, that there is a lucrative market for pork in Jamaica.

“I must say, we don’t have any training in agricultural sciences, so a lot of the information we got was from research online and speaking to people in the industry. Speaking to these people, we realised that a lot of the other areas of farming were very saturated, such as chicken farming. Through our research, we also found that there is always a market for pork and pork products in Jamaica. In addition, we can also generate energy from the pig waste; so it was a win-win situation,” she explained.

That she is thinking of waste-to-energy is no surprise, for the four-acre farm uses solar power and is completely off the grid. It is also a study in water conservation as the operation is served by a stream which runs through the property.

Powell hopes her foray into the business will help change the way people, especially young people, view farming given that the profession is important for the country’s food security.

“When people think of farming they do not think of a college-educated person. But farming has evolved, and this is what people should realise. No one should look down on farming because, while you may need a dentist once a year, or you may need a doctor once a year or if you feel sick, you need a farmer and what that farmer does every single day; so farmers should be respected,” she said.

She also pointed out that farming is a lucrative career choice, especially in this harsh economic climate.

“Considering the condition of the Jamaican economy, it is in everybody’s best interest to maximise earnings,” Powell said.

Speaking to the ease of accessing start-up capital, Powell said she was spared the hassle and interests associated with loans.

“Thankfully, we did not have to take a loan. I think if we had to borrow the money, it would have been much more difficult. To get started, it was life savings. I may look pretty young, but it was savings. It was all savings; returns from investments that had been made, in terms of stocks and bonds and other investments. It is, even up to now, salaries; all personal financing. So we are on a very tight budget,” she noted, alluding to the sacrifices she makes in the pursuit of the project.

Powell says much of her success is owed to the support from the CB group. She explained that she purchased her first four inseminated sows from Newport Genetics. Since the purchase, the company has been very helpful in assisting her to maintain the animals.

“Big up NutraMix, Copperwood, Newport Genetics; the entire CB group!” she said.

The animals should be ready for sale by the end of this month, since they will be at market weight, which is about 220 pounds. The good news? She already has a market in the form of the CB group.