Core Tips:Organic food and organic farms have become a common trend in Taiwan, and Taiwanese people are now bringing the same drive they once used to develop the economy to the development of organic agriculture. When you drink 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 Culture and Education Foundation.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
Driven by the market, more and more Taiwanese farmers are transitioning to growing organic agricultural products.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/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 to carve out 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.”บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
Sunshine Grandma's Experimental FarmบทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
January in Taiwan is bone-chillingly cold, but Zhou Meihui and her husband Dai Dongxiong are busy in the fields with great enthusiasm. This couple, wearing rain boots while working hard 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 Taiwanese civil law, respectively. Now, this couple approaching seventy years old personally work in the fields growing vegetables and promoting 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!” said Zhou Meihui.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
“I feel that 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.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
The experimental farm, located near the South Garden Hotel in Zhongli, uses land 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 pH of the soil, pesticides can also trigger cancer-promoting 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.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
Zhou Meihui's “compost technology instructor,” 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!” said Zhuang Yulong. “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 insect eggs inside must be removed to avoid affecting the growth of vegetables and fruits when fertilized later. During fermentation, 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. Taking cow dung as an example, its water content is high, while its organic matter and nutrient content are too low, so the compost made from it is not as nutritious as that made from pig manure...บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
In Taiwan, there are still many people like Zhuang Yulong and Zhou Meihui who are passionate about promoting organic cultivation, but more than 20 years ago, the damage to Taiwanese agriculture from pesticides was deeper than we can hardly imagine today.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/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.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
Polychlorinated Biphenyls Trigger the Green MovementบทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/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. Since then, 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," safeguarding consumer rights in Taiwan.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
The Consumers' Foundation began random inspections of various products on the market twice a week. From dried goods from both north and south, Chinese medicinal materials, even betel leaves used to wrap betel nuts, bridal rose bouquets, vegetables, and fruits, all were inspected. They paid out of their own pockets to buy these products on the market, sent them to professional testing institutions, and regularly held press conferences to announce the inspection results to the public. Because the Consumers' Foundation is a foundation in the nature of a corporate juridical person and does not carry any for-profit purpose, the data it publishes has great credibility among consumers. Precisely because of the birth of the Consumers' Foundation, the competent authority, the Department of Health, also began random inspections of various foods on the market and reporting them to the public.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/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 that it stop operations, forcing the Taiwanese government to establish the ”Environmental Protection Administration."บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/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 Culture and Education Foundation. Before the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan, Taiwan did not have a habit of mass-producing pesticides. Even after being ruled by Japan for fifty years, it still maintained the natural planting methods of the past. “But after Taiwan accepted 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,” added Zhuang Yulong.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/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 were naturally very popular in an era when agricultural exports were dominant. However, this production method of using large amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides destroyed the original pH of the land and also caused the toxins absorbed by the human body to accumulate continuously.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/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.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
“For a period of time, major hospitals in Taiwan had specialized toxicology departments specifically handling pesticide poisoning!” said Zhou Meihui. 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 deep understanding of Taiwanese people suffering from pesticide poisoning.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/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 spraying pesticides. 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 Taiwanese hospitals were quite experienced in handling these pesticide poisonings. “At that time, in Taiwanese hospitals, as long as patients with unclear consciousness or accelerated heartbeat were sent in during the day, if the patients were dressed like farmers, 99% of them were poisoned by the above three categories!” said a senior toxicology physician.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/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 Taiwanese 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 after that did so-called organic certification appear. Organic chain stores blossoming everywhere were also born at this time.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
“This is grown by us ourselves, even richer than Yilan's Sanxing scallions!” When talking about farming, Dai Dongxiong was no less fluent than when he explained civil law on stage.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
Green Cultivation in TaiwanบทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
Rooftops as Vegetable GardensบทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/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 plastic vegetable-growing 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.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
In the North District of Taichung City, there is a community building 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 roof. After all the preparatory work was completed, 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, it did not matter; there were always other residents queuing up waiting for your vegetable garden.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
Growing Vegetables to Sell to EmployeesบทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
In Shanhua Township, Tainan County, Chi Mei Optoelectronics, a major Taiwanese panel manufacturer, opened a vegetable garden called “Shanhua Nursery” here, covering forty hectares, growing vegetables organically to supply Chi Mei's group meals. During seasons of large harvests, they also sold them to employees at cheap prices.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
In the south, Chi Mei Optoelectronics 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, a vegetable-selling truck entered the office of Formosa Plastics Environmental Technology, an affiliate of Formosa Plastics Group, in the rear building in Taipei every three days, specifically selling vegetables to Formosa Plastics employees.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
Farmers Transition to OrganicบทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/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 an “Organic E-Mall,” “Organic Farmers” Market,“ and ”Organic Farm Integration System" online. The organic products in these markets and malls are dazzling in variety. Vegetables, fruits, rice, tea, and all daily agricultural products can be purchased online. Consumers can understand which farm the vegetables they buy come from and order directly from the farmers.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/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. The “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 allowing the soil to rest and recover its original pH value, and only then applied organic cultivation and further expanded 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.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/
Source: Southern Metropolis WeeklyบทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11307/