Short answer. Yes. Rice harvested from a farmed field and vegetables grown through cultivation are industrial fruits under the Civil Code. Industrial fruits are those produced by lands of any kind through cultivation or labor — meaning human effort on the land is what defines them, not spontaneous growth.
What the law says
Industrial fruits are those produced by lands of any kind through cultivation or labor.
Civil Code, Article 442 — Kinds of Fruits Defined. Read the full provision →
The three kinds of fruits the Civil Code recognizes
Article 442 of the Civil Code divides the fruits of property into three categories. Natural fruits are the spontaneous products of the soil and the young and other products of animals — things that come without human effort, like wild grass or a calf born to a cow. Industrial fruits are those produced by lands through cultivation or labor — the defining element is human work applied to land. Civil fruits are not physical harvests at all but economic returns: rent from buildings, lease payments on land, and income from annuities or similar arrangements.
Why rice and vegetables are industrial fruits
Rice grown on a farmed field requires planting, irrigation, weeding, and harvesting — all forms of cultivation or labor. Vegetables in a garden or commercial farm are similarly the result of active human effort. These are not spontaneous products of the soil; they exist because someone worked the land to produce them. That makes them industrial fruits under Article 442, regardless of whether the farm is a small backyard plot or a large commercial operation. The size or commercial scale of the farming activity does not change this classification.
Why this classification matters
The distinction between natural and industrial fruits has real legal consequences. In co-ownership, usufruct, and property relations between spouses, who owns the fruits of property depends partly on how those fruits are classified. Industrial fruits — because they require labor — raise the additional question of whose labor produced them and under what arrangement. A tenant farmer who cultivates another person's land produces industrial fruits, but the rights to those fruits depend on the lease or tenancy arrangement and on the applicable agricultural law.
When the classification affects ownership
In usufruct, for example, a usufructuary is entitled to receive the fruits of property during the usufruct period. Understanding that a rice harvest is an industrial fruit — not a spontaneous product — clarifies when the usufructuary's right attaches and what they are entitled to take. Similarly, in the conjugal partnership of gains, industrial fruits produced during marriage from the spouse's private land may be considered conjugal property because they result from effort expended during the marriage. The classification becomes the threshold question before the ownership rule applies.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- Republic of the Philippines vs. Holy Trinity Realty and Development Corp, G.R. No. 172410, April 14, 2008 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Spouses Ramon and Rosita Tan vs. Gorgonia Bantegui, et al, G.R. No. 154027, October 24, 2005 — read the decision on LawPhil →