Organic Vegetable Boxes for Schools: Taoyuan Agriculture Bureau Teams Up with Farmers' Association to Help Vegetable Farmers
The extension of school closures to June 14 has left organic vegetable farmers who originally supplied school lunch programs at all levels in Taoyuan frantic. In response, the Taoyuan City Agriculture Bureau has partnered with the Taoyuan City Farmers' Association to put together vegetable assortments grown by farmers and launch "Anti-Epidemic Organic Vegetable Boxes," welcoming the public
The extension of school closures to June 14 has left organic vegetable farmers who originally supplied school lunch programs at all levels in Taoyuan frantic. In response, the Taoyuan City Agriculture Bureau has partnered with the Taoyuan City Farmers' Association to put together vegetable assortments grown by farmers and launch "Anti-Epidemic Organic Vegetable Boxes," welcoming the public to actively subscribe and help farmers get through this difficult time.
"There's no way to sell any of this."
Because of the pandemic, in-person classes have been suspended, so vegetable farmers simply aren't harvesting the organic vegetables they grow, destroying them outright to use as fertilizer. The vegetable farmers pointed out that they originally thought a 2-week closure could be weathered, but now the closure has been extended. While they support epidemic prevention, they also hope the government will pay attention to the losses suffered by vegetable farmers.
Vegetable farmer Jian Lian-shi: "Our scheduling has already been set in motion, so all the vegetables are backed up. With everything backed up, we don't know what to do or how to handle it."
In response, the Taoyuan City Agriculture Bureau said it is currently working with the Taoyuan City Farmers' Association to purchase farmers' vegetables in order to balance short-term supply and demand, and has launched organic vegetable boxes for the general public to buy, helping farmers get through this difficult time together.
⟦NL>
Lin Kai-liang, Section Chief of the Agricultural Affairs Section of the Taoyuan City Agriculture Bureau: "As for the extension of school closures, the part through June 14, we - our city government - will also discuss with the Taoyuan City Farmers' Association again to see how to adjust to the situation, and then proceed with this, the opening of orders for organic vegetable boxes."
The Taoyuan City Agriculture Bureau pointed out that because the organic vegetable market is separated from general retail channels, and some vegetable farmers' sales channels are affected, the Agriculture Bureau will continue to assist in maintaining market prices and preventing vegetable prices from collapsing.