Young Farmer 03: Pausing World-Weariness in the Fields

General News Jan 1, 1970 0 views

Young Farmer: Pausing World-Weariness | 03 Fields

The label "returning youth" once shone brightly for her, and light symbolizes hope.Yet in the world of a child afflicted by the sickness of civilization, light can also scatter. When she decided to face her hometown with bare honesty, she took off her glasses, only to findbefore her eyes nothing but blurred reality and bewilderment. And this state of "scattering" has followed her like a shadow since returning home.

Photographed in Xizhou, Changhua | Photo/ Âng Ka Kî

Affected by sky-high farmland prices❶, if a family has no land of its own and no substantial assets, then for most young farmers the first priority is to rent land from someone. Yet for me, having been away from my hometown for several years, the word "hometown" seems frozen in time - before the schoolbag on my shoulders grew heavier and heavier. Both strange and intimate. And where should I even begin looking for land? And whom should I ask?

Crisscrossing Paths

Perhaps rural villages no longer offer the sudden revelation of stumbling upon a peach blossom spring, and the villagers living within are hardly carefree and content - some even seem to invite pity like fading beauty. Yet withered flowers and fallen willows still hold hidden fragrance; what is tangled and interwoven is not limited to the bizarre goings-on upon farmland;there are also the networks of human connection tightly woven by blood and geography, becoming paths leading to the past, present, and future. If you could slice open a village, you might see growth rings, and the children of a new era huddle timidly at the outermost circle; under the era's high-speed spin, they often feel "flung outward." But, dear one, have you noticed?

The farther you are from the center, the stronger the centripetal force becomes; and that feeling of being "flung outward" - seen from another angle, is it not precisely caused by the working of centripetal force?

Although rural population density is low, the "sweet as honey" neighborly relationships may cling so tightly that people accustomed to apartment living feel suffocated. But once you summon the courage to open your heart sincerely, everyone will become your family - mentors and friends alike, even better than a Zhuge Liang. And this relationship of mutual respect and love is the starting point; though along the way there are inevitably voices of doubt and worry, but is that not a form of love?

We can be doubted, but we must believe in ourselves. | HCY

[In the process of Ka Kî searching for land, what was relatively fortunate was that because the family has farmed for generations, my mother had years of experience renting land from others, so naturally she became my strategist; moreover, because of her sociable nature, she became the bridge between me and other elders.]

Suitable Fields

Whether conventional or eco-friendly farming, the points to pay attention to when viewing land are as follows:

Drainage System：If for dryland crops, this should be given extra attention. The advice Ka Kî's father gave was - take advantage of the heavy rain after a typhoon to observe how the land drains.
Irrigation Water：In the Zhuoshui River basin, because of the Jiji Weir❷, the water supply from irrigation canals is unstable, and most farmers have given up the organic-rich stream water, building pumps beside their fields to extract groundwater.
Soil Quality: In Minnan language, soil is divided into "soil flesh" and "soil powder sand," the former referring to soil with a higher clay content. You can choose according to what crops you plan to grow in the future. But Ka Kî's own small optimism holds that "there is no such thing as poor land in this world, only insufficient effort."
Sunlight: In the Northern Hemisphere,most sunlight comes from the south, so if there are obstructions to the south of the field, it may affect the length of sunlight for part of the planted area, but it can also be seen as an "opportunity" to plant shade-loving plants.

Additionally, for small farmers practicingeco-friendly land cultivation, the following must also be considered:

Landlord: Some farmers (landlords) who are accustomed to using pesticides or herbicides are less accepting of eco-friendly land cultivation methods. If possible, try to cooperate with landlords who can identify with your philosophy. For example, regarding weed management, while holding firm to your own principles, you can communicate and coordinate with the landlord, but at the same time you should respect the landlord's care for the land, so bring out your most diligent side and weed!
Adjacent Fields: Because farmland is fragmented❸ and eco-friendly cultivation still occupies a very small area, it is hard to avoid pesticide contamination from neighboring fields. So besides planting buffer strips, you can also actively get to know the farmers working the adjacent fields, or even directly take on the weeding of the field ridges bordering theirs!

Visible, Yet Out of Reach

Whom can we turn to when we need help? Not angels, not humans; even the beasts that know are aware:in this world that has been explained, we do not feel very safe. | Rainer Maria Rilke 《Duino Elegies"Translator:Huang Canran

Farmers' Insurance

After deciding to farm, considering future income and farmers' insurancewith added occupational accident insurance, I believe enrolling in farmers' insurance is the only choice; however, although the Council of Agriculture will use aperson-land decoupling modelso that actual cultivators no longer tire themselves over a single land lease contract❹ and can also join farmers' insurance, under the government'sagribusinessdevelopment mindset,the regulations on the farmland operating area for actual cultivatorshave become an obstacle to my farmers' insurance application, and at the same time have indirectly restricted thecrop diversitydevelopment per unit area of farmland. Additionally, even if the farmland operating area meets the standard, if the landlord who rents out the farmland still uses that same land parcel number to apply for farmers' insurance (even though the landlord does not farm it), then that parcel number will not be counted toward the "operating area."

Subsidies

For example, the "Green Environmental Payment for Land" program. Its intent is excellent - it can encourage farmers to switch to coarse grain crops, raise Taiwan's food self-sufficiency rate, and respond to the food crisis that may result from future soaring oil prices. But if a tenant farmer who actually cultivates the land wants to apply for this subsidy, it still must go through the landlord❺, and whether the landlord is willing to pass the subsidy on to the tenant farmer remains unclear.

For tenant farmers unable to obtain a land lease contract (especially small eco-friendly farmers), there is constant worry that the land may suddenly be reclaimed by the landlord, and they will go to any lengths just to maintain good relations with the landlord. So whether it is coordinating with the landlord over farmers' insurance or subsidies, it often feels like a lump in the throat that is hard to speak of.

Returning to the Original Heart

The original intention in choosing farming and eco-friendly cultivation was not only my own love of working barefoot on the land, but also the added value this labor brings - serving the life and non-life around it, experiencing "beauty" through the five senses, and recovering a state of peace; and finally, I still want to mention in a very clichéd way "love." Let go for now of the "scattered" state arising from the land-searching process; if I do not, I will end up neglecting every lovely person who has helped me.

Although "finding land" is only a small step, it is a very important one.

Thanks to Mom and Dad, the lovely elders of Wacuo Village,I Love Xizhou、Xizhou Shangshui Eco-Friendly Farm Produce, and, to you reading this article.

About [Young Farmer: Pausing World-Weariness]

I am 23 years old this year. I have decided to farm using eco-friendly cultivation methods, living with my back bent.

Since dropping out of school in 2015, I began one journey after another escaping from Taiwan and from myself; in the process, clichéd as countless backpacker influencers: "I found a lifestyle and belief I love." Because of my stubborn care for land and life, I was torn between the world and myself, which brought pain, and then world-weariness; however, in 2017, I went to Southeast Asia, and on land where the mother river flows, I interacted and lived with many young farmers averaging 25 years old (series of articles), and only then did I realize: "Precisely because we are young, it is all the more worthwhile to tread our time into the soil beneath our feet, nourishing all things." The thought of putting down roots was thus born.

World-weariness comes from the fact that I still have expectations for this world; and farming is my way of pressing pause on that world-weary state, and also my way of recovering the ability to answer frankly "what are people born for."

Here, I will record the path of farming; it may be full of twists and turns, but having started, that is always a good thing.

Labor lóo-lat.