Can the National Spatial Plan Save Farmland? Small Farmers, Big Food Lecture Series Session 1

Small Farmers, Big Food Lecture Series (1) Can the National Spatial Plan Save Farmland?

Event introduction:

Farmland capable of producing food is the foundation for the development of rural areas, agriculture and farmers, but under a society that has long prioritized industry over agriculture, the market value and social contributions of agriculture have long been suppressed, and on top of that, profiteering from farmland speculation, urban expansion and illegal occupation by factories have forced even more people to abandon their fields and leave farming. According to the "Proposal on Agricultural Policy and Science and Technology Research" produced by Academia Sinica in 2012, Taiwan lost about 45,000 hectares of arable land over 10 years, equivalent to losing 4,500 hectares a year.

Faced with the massive annual loss of core farmland, the National Spatial Plan launched in 2016 hoped to preserve enough good farmland for the next generation of Taiwan by redrawing national spatial functional zones, restricting the flexibility of case-by-case land rezoning and adopting forward-looking spatial development and growth management strategies. However, the designation of national spatial functional zones also affects the most sensitive land interests in local politics and the space for urban industrial and commercial development, and this has always been the biggest obstacle to the reasonable and lawful use of land. Can the lofty ideals held high by the National Spatial Plan really be achieved? What are its limitations? Or what kind of social forces does it need to help?

These questions will be answered for everyone by the speaker at this forum, Professor Lai Tsung-yu of the Department of Land Economics at National Chengchi University, who currently serves as an expert and scholar member of the Ministry of the Interior's National Spatial Plan Deliberation Committee for 2018.

Forum speaker:Professor Lai Tsung-yu, Department of Land Economics, National Chengchi University(Expert and scholar member of the Ministry of the Interior's National Spatial Plan Deliberation Committee for 2018)

Event location:3rd floor, Mi Kitchen Vegetarian Restaurant (No. 9, Hengyang Road, Taipei)

Event fee:To support the self-sustaining development of public-interest lectures, this event charges a modestregistration fee of 100 yuan, paid on site.

Please click here to register

Event time:April 12, 2018 (Thu) 7 pm to 9 pm (doors open at 6:30 pm)

                 7:00-8:15 is the speaker's sharing time

8:15-8:35 is the moderator's question time with the speaker

8:35-9:00 Q&A time

Number of registrants:Because the venue space is limited, registration is capped at 40 people.

Organizer: Homemakers United Foundation