Biography

The author was born on December 31, 1974 at Magsingal, Ilocos Sur. He is the third among the eight children of Mr. Moises Utrera Sr. and Mrs. Maxima T. Utrera.

He finished his primary education at Magsingal North Central School in 1987 and his secondary education at The Magsingal Institute with honors in 1991. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering at the College of Agriculture and Forestry, Mariano Marcos State University, Batac, Ilocos Norte in 1996. In the same year, he took the Professional Agricultural Engineering Licensure Examination given by the Philippine Regulatory Commission (PRC). With God’s blessing, he successfully passed the said examination. He obtained his 1987 and his secondary education at The Magsingal Institute with honors in 1991. He obtained his Master of Science in Agricultural Engineering major in Land and Water Resources Engineering minor in Agrometeorology at the College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology, University of the Philippines Los Baños, Los Baños Laguna in 2013.

In August 1997, he started working as a Science Research Assistant under the SysNet Project, a collaborative project of the Mariano Marcos State University, Philippine Rice Research Institute, and International Rice Research Institute. After five months he was promoted as Science Research Specialist 1 on the same project. In July 1999, he joined the Comprehensive Irrigation Research and Development Umbrella Program (CIRDUP) as a Science Research Assistant. He started taking courses of his own expense, for the degree of Master of Science in Agriculture major in Crop Science on a part-time basis at the Graduate School of the Mariano Marcos State University and able to finish 33 units but unable to conduct his thesis. Earlier in 2004, he was assigned as one of the project leaders of the CIRDUP under the study on Aquifer Characterization Project. In October 2004, he joined the Research and Development Directorate of the Mariano Marcos State University as a regular employee where he is at present a Science Research Assistant. 

The author had conducted various researches particularly on farming systems. He had actively participated in various local, regional, national, and international conferences and trainings held in the Philippines. He had also presented and published some technical papers on local, regional, national and international journals. Among the papers presented and published were Characterization of shallow aquifer properties in Region 1; Effect of tillage practices and fertilizer levels on the performance of major rice-based crops under rainfed lowland condition; Performance of direct seeded and transplanted lowland rice; and Biophysical characterization and mapping of the geographic location of IFPs under the project on “Indigenous food plants (IFPs) for increased food sufficiency in Ilocos Norte, Philippines. 

He has garnered national award from the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR) and regional awards from Ilocos Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium (ILARRDEC) for his papers. He has also attended various trainings especially on Geographical Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS). 

As a Science Research Assistant in MMSU, he was also given special designations (i.e. In-charge of R & D Laborers; storekeepers of fertilizers and member of research monitoring and evaluation team; department head of general services of R & D, etc.) aside from conducting research.