Core prompt:Organic food and organic farms have become a widespread trend in Taiwan, and Taiwanese people are now bringing the same drive they once used to develop the economy into developing organic agriculture. When you are drinking a cup of organic herbal tea in Taiwan, it is hard to imagine that Taiwan was once known as the “Kingdom of Pesticides.” “Taiwan's pesticide pollution was so severe, and it had a lot to do with U.S. aid at the time!” explained Dai Meihui, executive director of the Dai Yanhui Cultural and Educational Foundation.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
Driven by the market, more and more farmers in Taiwan are transitioning to cultivating organic agricultural products.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
Eating organic food, growing one's own vegetables, and traveling to organic farms have become a fashionable lifestyle in Taiwan. When what people eat may be chicken full of unknown antibiotics, cows with mad cow disease, pigs with foot-and-mouth disease, and vegetables sprayed with unknown amounts of pesticides, Taiwanese people have long since taken action. Those with a little spare money and means have begun opening their own farms in cities where land is extremely expensive; those without space or means grow box after box of hydroponic vegetables on their balconies. What people discuss is not only the virtual Happy Farm in the online world, but also their own real “organic farms.”Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
Sunshine Grandma's experimental farmArtikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
January in Taiwan is piercingly cold, but Zhou Meihui is busily working in the fields with her husband Dai Dongxiong. This couple, wearing rain boots and busy with farm work in the fields, were once a professor teaching design at Shih Chien University and a justice of the Judicial Yuan and an authoritative professor of Taiwan civil law, respectively. Now, this couple approaching seventy years of age personally go into the fields to grow vegetables and promote organic farming that turns kitchen waste into gold. Zhou Meihui, who lived in Germany for more than ten years, was influenced by the German scientist Rudolf Steiner (who proposed the concept of Biodynamic Farming in 1924 and was a pioneer of modern organic agriculture) and has promoted organic farming in Taiwan. “If we don't do it today, we will regret it tomorrow!” Zhou Meihui said.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
“I think just buying ingredients from organic stores still cannot make me one hundred percent reassured, so I decided to do it myself!” More than ten years ago, she began promoting growing one's own vegetables in Taiwan. She converted a villa in Sanzhi into a renewable energy demonstration house and also opened an experimental farm in Zhongli. More than ten years ago, when a garbage war broke out in Zhongli, Zhou Meihui and her friend Zhuang Yulong jointly promoted the method of turning kitchen waste into gold.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
At the experimental farm located near the South Garden Hotel in Zhongli, the land was provided by Zhou Meihui's students. Under Zhuang Yulong's technical guidance, the scale of the experimental farm gradually took shape. A specially made wind power tower was built beside the farm, and the entire farm's electricity supply relies entirely on this wind tower. The water in the ecological pond is enough to supply irrigation for all crops in the area. “To eat healthily, there absolutely must be no pesticides. In addition to destroying the soil's pH balance, pesticides can also induce cancer-causing growth factors in the human body!” Zhou Meihui emphasized. Therefore, the fertilizer in the experimental farm is entirely composed of organic compost made from kitchen waste. Zhuang Yulong pointed to piles of black soil beside the farm, with waves of heat still drifting from them in the distance. That was “golden compost” formed from collected kitchen waste after several months of fermentation.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
Zhou Meihui's “compost technical adviser” Zhuang Yulong is the chairman of the Taiwan Farm Management Association. He once won Taiwan's Top Ten Outstanding Agricultural Youth Award, has studied Taiwan's agricultural development over the past decades in depth, and is very skilled at how to grow good vegetables! “My secret is compost!” Zhuang Yulong said. “We once went to Taipei's Fuji Fishing Harbor to ask for spoiled catches to make compost, and the vegetables grown were especially plump and delicious!” There is a great deal of knowledge in composting: fish catches have the highest protein content, while dead leaves are low. At the same time, the compost temperature must be high enough for organic matter to ferment, and the insect eggs inside must be removed to avoid affecting the growth of fruits and vegetables when fertilized in the future. During the fermentation process, it must be controlled so that no foul odor is produced; only then is it good compost. As for animal excrement, there are also differences in degree. In the case of cow dung, the water content is high, and the content of organic matter and nutrients is too low, so the compost made from it is not as nutritious as that made from pig manure...Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
In Taiwan, there are still many people like Zhuang Yulong and Zhou Meihui who are passionate about promoting organic cultivation, but more than twenty years ago, the depth of damage to Taiwan's agriculture from pesticides is difficult for us to imagine today.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
In Zhou Meihui's experimental farm there is a specially made wind power tower, and the entire farm's electricity supply relies entirely on this wind tower.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
Polychlorinated biphenyls triggered the green movementArtikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
Older generations of Taiwanese people still remember the “polychlorinated biphenyl poisoning incident” vividly, because it was this incident that triggered a series of green movements in Taiwan. In the summer of 1979, in Taichung, unscrupulous operators made cooking oil from rice bran oil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls. After many people consumed it, they suffered skin ulcers and darkened bodies. There were several thousand victims. From then on, Taiwanese people began to pay comprehensive attention to food sources. In addition to the polychlorinated biphenyl poisoning incident that year, there was also a fake liquor incident. Professor Chai Songlin then issued a call and convened several lawyers, professors, and scholars to establish the “Consumers” Foundation," to safeguard consumer rights in Taiwan.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
The Consumers' Foundation began conducting twice-weekly random inspections of various products on the market, from dried goods from both north and south, Chinese medicinal materials, even betel leaves used to wrap betel nuts, brides' rose bouquets, and vegetables and fruits, all were brought in for inspection. They paid out of their own pockets to purchase these products on the market, sent them to professional testing institutions for testing, and regularly held press conferences to announce the inspection results to the public. Because the Consumers' Foundation is a foundation incorporated as a juridical person and does not carry any for-profit purpose, the data it publishes has great credibility among consumers. It was precisely because of the birth of the Consumers' Foundation that the competent authority, the Department of Health, also began randomly inspecting various foods on the market and reporting to the public.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
Five or six years after the establishment of the Consumers“ Foundation, in Dali Township, Taichung, Taiwan, another social incident occurred in which residents, protesting pollution from the Sanhuang Pesticide Factory, broke into the pesticide factory and demanded a shutdown, forcing the Taiwan government to establish the ”Environmental Protection Administration."Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
“Taiwan's pesticide pollution was so severe, and it had a lot to do with U.S. aid at the time!” explained Dai Meihui, executive director of the Dai Yanhui Cultural and Educational Foundation. Before the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan, Taiwan did not have a habit of large-scale pesticide production. Even after being ruled by Japan for fifty years, it still maintained the natural planting methods of the past. “But after Taiwan received U.S. aid, in order to increase crop yields, it introduced American-style farming methods and used large amounts of machinery and pesticides, causing considerable damage to Taiwan's arable land,” Zhuang Yulong added.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
We have all seen scenes in movies of Americans using small planes to spray cornfields, and Americans also brought this farming method to Taiwan. In addition, Taiwan is located in the subtropics and has more pests and diseases. Those pesticides introduced from the United States could kill large numbers of crop pests and were favored by Taiwanese farmers. In addition, American-style chemical fertilizers could increase crop yields, so they naturally became very popular in an era when agricultural exports were dominant. But this production method of using large amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides destroyed the soil's original pH balance and also caused the toxins absorbed by the human body to accumulate continuously.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
According to statistics from the Department of Agronomy at National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan, from 1990 to 1995 Taiwan's average annual pesticide use was 37,000 tons, costing NT$4.1 billion, the highest in Asia, earning it the title “Kingdom of Pesticides.” According to figures from the Consumers' Foundation, dividing the total annual pesticide use by the population, each person in Taiwan was allocated 2 kilograms of pesticides per year.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
“For a period of time, major hospitals in Taiwan had specialized toxicology departments specifically handling pesticide poisoning!” Zhou Meihui said. Zhou Meihui once studied in Germany with her husband and greatly admired Germany's promotion of solar energy and green industries. After returning to Taiwan, she vigorously promoted renewable energy. In addition, her brother-in-law Dai Dongyuan was precisely the superintendent of National Taiwan University Hospital, so she had a profound understanding of Taiwanese people being poisoned by pesticides.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
Data show that between 1959 and 1981, there were a total of 28,358 cases of severe pesticide poisoning in Taiwan, of which 26,877 were caused by pesticide spraying. Among them were none other than paraquat of the herbicide type, organophosphates of the insecticide type, and metal compounds of the fungicide type. Therefore, in the past, toxicology departments in Taiwan hospitals were quite experienced in handling these pesticide poisonings. “At that time, in Taiwan hospitals, as long as patients were brought in during the day with unclear consciousness or accelerated heartbeat, if the patient was dressed like a farmer, 99% of them were poisoned by the above three categories!” said a senior toxicology physician.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
These endless poisoning incidents appeared in the media every day, inevitably making Taiwanese people deeply worried. It was also at this time that the promotion of organic agriculture was formally introduced to Taiwan. In 1985, the Taiwan government began evaluating the feasibility of implementing organic agriculture in Taiwan. In 1991, Japan's most famous “MOA” natural farming method was formally introduced, and only afterward did so-called organic certification appear. Organic chain stores blooming everywhere were also born at this time.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
“This is grown by us ourselves, even richer than Yilan's Sanxing scallions!” When talking about farming, Dai Dongxiong's fluency was no worse than when he explained civil law on stage.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
Green planting in TaiwanArtikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
Rooftops as vegetable gardensArtikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
In Taiwan, it is popular to grow vegetables on balconies or apartment rooftops using styrofoam boxes or plastic pots, called “elevated planting.” This kind of elevated planting uses wooden racks to raise individual vegetable-growing plastic boxes one by one, neatly displaying and stacking them on the racks, thoroughly solving the past problem of dirty fertilizer water falling onto the floor after fertilizing vegetables on rooftops. The vegetable basins are also specially designed so they will not all fall over because of typhoons or heavy rain.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
In a community building in North District, Taichung City, called “Zuoyou Fengyuan,” ten years ago all 120 households in the entire community voted to decide to change the sky garden into a sky vegetable garden. They spent a lot of money on waterproofing the rooftop. After all the preparatory work was done, the residents turned the 200-ping sky garden into a sky vegetable garden. As long as community residents were willing to grow vegetables themselves, they could register with the community management committee and receive a plot of vegetable garden. If they had no time or grew tired of it, that was fine too; there were always other residents queuing up waiting for your vegetable garden.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
Growing vegetables to sell to employeesArtikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
In Shanhua Township, Tainan County, Chi Mei Electronics, a major Taiwanese panel manufacturer, opened a vegetable garden here called “Shanhua Nursery,” reaching forty hectares, growing vegetables organically to supply Chi Mei's group meals. During seasons of large harvests, they even sold them to employees at cheap prices.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
In the south, Chi Mei Electronics grows vegetables for its employees to eat, while in the north, the long-established Formosa Plastics has developed its own farm and sells organic vegetables. Formosa Plastics founder Wang Yongqing made compost on his own rooftop, grew organic vegetables, and even independently researched and developed making compost from kitchen waste, getting the lychee trees on the rooftop to bloom and bear fruit. Before Wang Yongqing passed away, at the Formosa Plastics building in Taipei, every three days there was a vegetable-selling truck that drove into the office of Formosa Plastics Environmental Technology, an affiliated enterprise of Formosa Plastics Group in the rear building, specifically to sell vegetables to Formosa Plastics employees.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
Farmers transitioning to organicArtikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
In recent years, organic farms in Taiwan have sprung up like bamboo shoots after rain. In order to improve the online marketing and promotion network of these guerrilla farms, the Agriculture and Food Agency of the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, even commissioned National Ilan University to build websites for these farms and establish online “Organic E-Mall,” “Organic Farmers” Market,“ and ”Organic Farm Integration System." The organic products in these markets and malls are dazzling in variety. Fruits and vegetables, rice, tea, and all agricultural products needed for daily life can be purchased online. Consumers can understand which farm the vegetables they buy come from and order directly from the farm households.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
Under the influence of government guidance and social trends, many farms that did not previously engage in organic production have now also begun to operate as organic farms. “Biluo Village Organic Farm,” owned by the Wu brothers in Fuxing Township, Taoyuan County, is one example. Owner Wu Guoqiang inherited the farmland left by his parents. They let the farmland lie fallow for seven years, thoroughly letting the soil rest and recover its original pH value. Only then did they apply organic cultivation and further expand it into a sightseeing and leisure farm, making it a special scenic spot in Fuxing Township, Taoyuan County. In Taiwan, there are still many examples like the Wu brothers.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/
Source: Southern Metropolis WeeklyArtikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11307/