Peerachote Charanwong, general manager of Merit Food Products, the producer of Thailand's first and only organic coconut milk brand Merit O, said it all began with one unlit match.
"My family had had a coconut field for around four decades, and we had a coconut oil factory. Everything was going well until the economic crisis in 1996, which caused our cash flow to be disrupted. We couldn't afford the chemical fertilisers and pesticides like before, so our coconut trees were suffering from serious pest attacks," said Peerachote.
He described the trees as suffering from "chemical withdrawal" like a drug addict would. They were not growing properly _ even the grass was doing better.
"We'd been using pesticides for so long that the land did not have any natural balance. Normally, nature has both friendly insects and harmful ones. The friendly ones would eat the harmful ones. Pesticides kill all of them, so after we stopped using pesticides, the harmful insects invaded our coconut field, and the friendly ones weren't there to stop them."
At their wit's end, Peerachote and his siblings got together to find a solution. Because they were not able to find a way out, they thought about burning everything down and starting afresh. It seemed to be the only viable option at the time. But as luck would have it, that match was never lit, although Peerachote couldn't quite pinpoint why. They decided to just let it be.
To his surprise, in a few years, the coconut field began to recover on its own, and the natural balance was restored without any intervention. The friendly insects returned to the land and kept the harmful ones at bay. The trees were thriving, bearing healthy coconuts. He was amazed by what nature could do.
But at the time, the word "organic" was not well known in Thailand, and Peerachote did not know what his next plan of action was.
Again, fatefully, on a flight back from Germany, he was seated next to an expert in organic food and their conversation led him to rethink his alternatives.
"At first, I have to admit that I was sceptical. Would people really spend money on these things? It was a lot of investment, but then again, I thought I had nothing to lose anyway.
"I went ahead with it, although a lot of people laughed at the idea at the time because it seemed like something that could never take off," recalled Peerachote.
Not a believer in overnight success, he studied organic farming and organic processing to made sure his products were as close to nature as possible. It was not an easy journey, but he found pleasant surprises along the way.
The organic approach not only affected his business but also his personal habits. Once a junk-food fan, Peerachote began eating more natural foods, and even raw food when possible.
From producing 60 tonnes of coconut milk per year when the organic business commenced, now Merit O is shipping 3,000 tonnes of its organic coconut milk worldwide. However, Peerachote is not looking to speed up the production to keep up with customer demands.
"Organic food is a niche market, and it cannot be mass-produced. Organic and mass production are antonymous _ you can't produce a large quantity of organic food, or it simply is not organic," he said.
Merit O coconut milk has been selling in many countries, both through private labelling and through its own brand. Now he thinks it is time to enter the local market because Thai consumers today are more health conscious and know the benefits of going organic.
"There are more people in the world, but fewer and fewer food resources. Technology has made it possible to feed billions of people, but the chemicals involved are not healthy," he said.
"We probably don't know yet what these chemicals will do to our health, but why risk it when you have other options?"
A lot goes into the success of this brand _ dedication, passion, time and research. But the factor that Peerachote appreciates most is his wife.
"They say behind every successful man is a woman. That's definitely the case for me," he said.
